Most Democrats are trying to put the disastrous Joe Biden presidency in their rearview mirror and are hoping voters forget about the open border crisis, rampant corruption, the Afghanistan disaster, and record inflation that is still hurting American voters.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is doing the opposite… and it is a gamble that could blow up in his face.
While potential Democratic rivals like Sen. Chris Murphy and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro have attacked Biden’s record, Newsom has spent the past 18 months defending Biden’s legacy.
Newsom has reached out to the Biden family, and refused to distance himself from the most unpopular president of recent memory.
“I’ll never turn my back on Joe Biden,” Newsom told a South Carolina crowd in February, during a book tour stop promoting his memoir. “You go home with the one who brought you to the dance.”
In March, Newsom told Axios that the Biden administration “a masterclass of policymaking” and previously told ABC News in the fall that Biden was “one of the most successful presidents in the last century.”
“I’m blessed to have gotten to know him, to defend him and defend his character, and continue to defend his record.”
Last week, Newsom hosted Hunter Biden on his podcast, who has been linked to Newsom’s 2028 presidential campaign.
“I’ll come campaign for you or against you, whatever helps most,” Hunter joked.
Political strategist Matt Klink said Newsom’s gamble with Biden may work with woke voters who are invested in the grift… but not with everyday Americans fed up with the D.C. swamp.
“It may help Gavin Newsom win the Democratic primary, but it destroys him in the general election,” Klink told The California Post. “Democrats keep nominating candidates who can’t win because they lack broad appeal. Gavin Newsom is sprinting down the same road — an out-of-touch, progressive California Democrat who wants to make the United States look like California.”
“That’s a scary thought for most of the country.”
Indeed, Biden remains deeply unpopular with the broader electorate, but polls indicate that many critical blocs of the Democratic primary demographic have stayed warm toward him.
A CNN/SSRS poll last month found 53% of Black Americans and 40% of Latinos held a positive view of Biden, compared to just 23% of white Americans.
“Newsom’s loyalty to Joe Biden may buy him some warmth in the Democrat presidential primary, but loyalty to a failed president is a thin foundation,” he said. “Black and Latino voters care about kitchen-table issues, and the Biden-Harris record on inflation and the border didn’t exactly deliver for them.”
Indeed, Newsom’s defense of the Biden administration and their failed policies has bitten him in the past.
“Gavin Newsom called Joe Biden ‘sharp,’ then quietly blamed jet lag for the debate meltdown,” Klink recalled. “With all the information that’s now public, that statement doesn’t demonstrate loyalty; it creates a massive credibility problem waiting to be exploited.”
“Every opponent in 2028 has that clip queued up and ready to go. Claiming the Biden mantle means owning the border crisis, the inflation hangover, the disaster in Afghanistan, and the cover-up of a president’s obvious cognitive decline.”
The latest polling shows former Vice President Kamala Harris at 27% of support in a potential Democratic primary run, and Newsom at a distant second at 14%. Pete Buttigieg just cracked double digits for the first time, jumping to 11%.
“The risk that Gavin Newsom inherits Joe Biden’s liabilities is enormous,” Klink said. “He is walking into it with eyes wide open.”