Dems Accuse Gavin Newsom of Running ‘Shadow Campaign’ against Biden

Liberals and Democrats are slamming California’s left-wing governor for allegedly running a “shadow campaign” to take the White House next year. On his HBO show “Real Time,” liberal host and comedian Bill Maher mocked Governor Gavin Newsom (D) for supposedly running a secret campaign to earn the 2024 Democratic nomination for president.

Speaking on Friday to Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who has formally announced he plans to challenge incumbent Democratic president Joe Biden, Maher quipped, “Look, we both struggle with the same thing. We like Joe Biden, right? And we think he’s done a good job. Ruth Bader Ginsburg did a good job and did not know when to quit, and that’s why you’re here.” Referring to Phillips’s formal campaign, Maher added, “And it’s not like others are doing this in a — sort of a shadow campaign. I mean, Gavin Newsom, our governor, seems to be all over the world.” Newsom recently visited both war-torn Israel and Communist Party-controlled China, trips rare for a state governor to make.

Maher isn’t the only one accusing Newsom of covertly vying for the White House. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) also criticized the California governor’s “shadow campaign.” In a speech Saturday evening, Fetterman said that, other than Biden, there are two other Democrats running for president. “One is a congressman from Minnesota,” he said, referring to Phillips, “the other one is the governor of California, but only one has the guts to announce it.”

Despite what may or may not be his D.C. overtures, the 56-year-old Newsom has repeatedly denied that he is challenging the almost-81-year-old Biden for the presidency. As recently as September, Newsom told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he supports Biden’s reelection campaign and has no intention of challenging him, saying, “I think we need to move past this notion that he’s not going to run. … We’re gearing up for the campaign. We’re looking forward to it.”

But other major Democratic Party players are questioning whether Biden should be the 2024 nominee. There is, of course, Phillips, who has argued that Biden’s age and unpopularity are signs that “It’s time for the torch to be passed to a new generation of American leaders.” And former President Barack Obama’s campaign architect David Axelrod called into question Biden’s motives for seeking reelection. In a Twitter post on Sunday, Axelrod said, “If he [Biden] continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it’s in HIS best interest or the country’s?”

Axelrod’s comments were in reaction to a new poll by Siena College Research Institute and The New York Times. The results show former president and current Republican presidential primary frontrunner Donald Trump winning six key battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — in a 2024 matchup against Biden. Although the pollsters say both Trump and Biden are unpopular amongst voters, a majority of respondents (51%) said that Trump’s policies were beneficial, while even more (53%) said Biden’s policies have hurt Americans. Notably, the poll suggested that any other Democrat running against Trump for the White House would take all six battleground states. The question Democratic Party strategists now face is which pro-abortion radical would hypothetically replace Biden?

An op-ed article published in The Hill during the California governor’s Beijing visit read, “Newsom is currently in China, running a shadow campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, just in case President Biden succumbs to the realities of his age and waning mental capacity. … [W]hether Biden is gone next year or in 2028, Democrats have Newsom waiting in the wings.” After discounting sitting Vice President Kamala Harris as unpopular, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as an inept diversity hire, and Hillary Clinton as “the only person ever to lose an election to Donald Trump,” the article’s author astutely noted, “Newsom is Biden’s most viable alternative today and his most likely successor tomorrow. Can you name another high-profile Democrat with the name recognition, donor base and political talent to assume control and succeed after Biden is gone?”

An analysis published by The Epoch Times also speculates that Newsom is preparing for a last-minute White House bid. Particularly noteworthy are some of the Golden State governor’s recent vetoes, which include shooting down legislation decriminalizing psychedelic drugs and forcing judges in child custody cases to favor parents who promote LGBT ideology to their children. According to The Epoch Times, these pieces of legislation are “hard for the governor to greenlight if he wants to become competitive across a country where California values aren’t always and everywhere welcome.” California Assemblyman James Gallagher (R) also told The Epoch Times that Newsom’s vetoes are a political ploy to appear more moderate, while noting, “The problem is, he’s still passing pretty radical policy.”

Despite both identifying as Catholic, Newsom and Biden are both radical abortion advocates, with Newsom declaring California an abortion “sanctuary” after the fall of Roe v. Wade and founding the California Future of Abortion Council. In order to further abortion at the federal level, Newsom controversially named Maryland resident and vocal abortion activist Laphonza Butler to fill the late Dianne Feinstein’s vacant U.S. Senate seat. He and his administration have also moved to penalize schools for refusing LGBT propaganda, sued school districts for informing parents of students’ social gender transitions, and backed legislation to strip parents of their right to raise their children — all in the name of the LGBT agenda.