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A growing number of elected Democrats in Washington and even here in New Hampshire are calling on the 81-year-old president to step aside.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a donut while greeting people, Monday, July 8, 2024, near the Common Man Roadside Market and Deli, in Hooksett, N.H. AP Photo/Steven Senne
By STEVE PEOPLES and HOLLY RAMER, Associated Press
July 9, 2024 | 9:26 AM
HOOKSETT, N.H. (AP) — For years, Gavin Newsom stayed far away from New Hampshire by design.
The ambitious California governor understood that any visit to a bastion of presidential politics would fuel speculation that he might be eyeing President Joe Biden’s job. But on Monday, with Biden fighting an existential political crisis, the embattled president dispatched Newsom to New Hampshire to help rescue his flailing campaign.
It was the latest and perhaps most significant stop in a multi-state tour for Newsom, who has emerged as Biden’s most prominent battleground-state defender.
“I decided instead of just rolling over and giving up, that I would step up and pick up the fight,” Newsom told reporters at a highway rest stop in his first public appearance in the state as an elected official. He said of Biden, “He’s going to be our nominee.”
It’s a pivotal moment both for Newsom and his Democratic Party, which has been consumed by infighting and uncertainty in the wake of Biden’s disastrous debate performance just 11 days earlier.
Biden insisted again Monday that he would not suspend his campaign. But a growing number of elected Democrats in Washington and even here in New Hampshire are calling on the 81-year-old president to step aside, warning that he is too weak to defeat former President Donald Trump this fall and may not be able to lead the country effectively for another four years even if he wins.
Many Democratic officials believe Vice President Kamala Harris is best positioned to replace Biden. But the short list of top-tier alternatives is led by Newsom, a big-state governor with big ambitions who is as comfortable talking policy as he is mixing it up with leading Republicans.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore are also part of the replacement debate playing out privately among donors, strategists and elected officials. All of them have been vocal Biden advocates in recent days.
Speaking ahead of a closed-door fundraiser for New Hampshire Senate Democrats, Newsom said the party’s current divisions were unhelpful and distracting.
He also brushed aside a question about whether he would seek the party’s nomination at next month’s national convention should Biden leave the race.
“I think that’s a legitimate question and I respect it, but it’s also exactly the question that Donald Trump is hoping everyone asks as he’s out on the golf course,” Newsom said. “So to me,