Gavin Newsom distances himself from replacing Biden after debate disaster – Washington Examiner

President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance has Democrats scrambling for a plan B on Friday, but one of the top contenders, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, keeps saying he’s not interested.

Newsom insisted he will not be the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, telling a scrum of news reporters following the debate, “Our nominee is Joe Biden. I’m looking forward to voting for him in November.”

Newsom also said the chatter about who could replace Biden on the ticket is “unhelpful” and “unnecessary.” 

“We’ve got to have the back of this president,” Newsom told MSNBC. “You don’t turn your back because of one performance. What kind of party does that? Democrats deliver. The president has delivered. We need to deliver for him at this moment. With all due respect, the more time we start having these conversations, go down these rabbit holes, it’s unhelpful to our democracy, our fate, and the future of this country.”

Widespread panic set in Thursday night following Biden’s frail appearance and lackluster performance on the debate stage against former President Donald Trump. Biden seemed to struggle to follow the moderators’ questions and often trailed off in thought. 

It led to almost immediate speculation that he would be pushed to decline the Democratic nomination. That kind of chatter, in turn, led to the possibility of Newsom taking the helm.

Former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill wondered on MSNBC why Newsom or Vice President Kamala Harris weren’t already at the top of the 2024 ticket. 

“Those two people are signaling to a whole lot of Americans who are paying attention, ‘How come they are not at the top of the ticket?’” McCaskill said. “How come the Democratic Party does not have them at the top of the ticket, instead of using them to shore up some pretty glaring weaknesses in our president?” 

Former Obama aide Johanna Maska didn’t mince words. 

“We cannot do this, Democrats,” she said. “Joe Biden can’t put a sentence together. We have to change our candidate, and we have so many good candidates who are sitting on the sidelines.” 

Other veteran political consultants and party delegates suggested Biden’s showing could initially hurt him in polls but they pushed back on claims that the debate would hurt him in the long run. The strong show of support from Newsom and Harris helped lessen some of the worry. 

R.L. Miller, a Democratic National Convention delegate from California, said in text chats her friends were questioning who the Democratic National Committee should pick as an alternative. But she suggested Democrats looking to jump ship needed to calm down. 

“Realistically, he’s not going to walk away from another shot at the presidency over one night,” she said of Biden.

Republican political consultant Mike Madrid likened the frenzy and initial panic over Biden’s performance to “a ton of bed-wetting,” the Los Angeles Times reported. 

“This was not a good night for Biden,” Madrid said. “There’s no question about it. Was it disastrous, and will it drastically change the trajectory of the race? No.”

Logistically, it would be possible for another candidate to step in. But in order to do so, Biden would have to agree to step aside.

If he did, delegates at the Democratic National Convention would have to vote for someone else when they meet in Chicago in August. Biden has secured support of 3,894 of 3,937 delegates, according to an Associated Press count. Those delegates would be able to vote for another candidate if Biden called it quits, which there has been no indication as of Friday he will do.

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Even though Newsom has indicated he’s sitting 2024 out, his actual odds of winning improved dramatically with a number of bookmakers, Newsweek reported. 

Before, Newsom’s odds of winning the 2024 presidential election were 20-1 (4.8%) with both Bet365 and Sky Bet, according to betting comparison website Oddschecker. They have improved significantly and now stand at 5-1 (16.7%) and 6-1 (14.3%), respectively.