Ron DeSantis Rival Gavin Newsom Won’t Challenge Biden

California Governor Gavin NewsomPhoto byFlorida Daily

After gaining national attention for lockdowns and criticism of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Califonia Governor Gavin Newsom insisted that he won’t challenge Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic Presidential Primary. Newsom, who is regularly mentioned among Democratic donors as a potential candidate if Biden doesn‘t run, told Politico’s Jonathan Martin that he wants the word to go forth: He’s not going to challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2024.

An excerpt from Politico’s story reads, “His message to Ron Klain and Jill Biden over the summer — when he visited Washington amid growing speculation, and considerable West Wing irritation, that he was plotting a primary challenge — was to count him as a firm supporter of Biden’s reelection: “I’m all in, count me in.”

The report of Newsom’s pledge comes less than a week after Biden’s 80th birthday and coincides with Biden’s retreat to Nantucket, where Biden is deliberating with his family about a re-election campaign that could be extremely grueling for the octogenarian with an approval rating below 50 percent.

Two recent polls showed Biden in a statistical dead heat against DeSantis. A Harvard poll showed Biden and DeSantis, with 43 percent each, while Biden trailed Trump by 2 percent at 44 to 42 percent in the same poll.

Another recent poll, conducted by Emerson, showed Biden with a four percent lead against both Trump and DeSantis, leading both matchups. Against Trump, Biden won 45 percent of the vote compared to 41 percent for Trump. Against DeSantis, Biden got 43 percent compared to 39 percent for DeSantis.

One potential factor that wasn‘t reflected in the polls was this weekend’s news that Trump hosted a dinner in Mar-a-Lago with a Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and Kanye West, who has received major backlash for his recent antisemitic rhetoric.

Trump admitted to dining with Fuentes but asserts that he was unfamiliar with Fuentes‘ background. Karen Giorno, a former Trump aide and senior adviser, told the Washington Post that Trump “was impressed with Nick and his knowledge of Trump World. Nick knew people and figures and speeches and rallies and what surrounded the Trump culture, particularly when it came to the base.”