California Gov. Gavin Newsom will campaign for President Joe Biden on Saturday at a rally in Bucks County, the Biden campaign said Wednesday. Newsome’s appearance comes a day before the president and first lady Jill Biden appear in Philadelphia for their first joint event in Pennsylvania since the June 27 presidential debate.
The Saturday morning event in Bucks County, the exact location of which has yet to be determined, will be a rally “condemning Donald Trump’s attacks on our democracy and his condoning of political violence,” according to the Biden campaign. Newsom will appear with state Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks), state Rep. Tim Brennan (D-Bucks), Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Ashley Ehasz, the Democratic candidate running to unseat U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1st District).
Bucks County is widely considered to be the only remaining swing county in the Philadelphia region, and is key for both presidential candidates. Biden beat Trump in this spot in 2020, and Hillary Clinton won Bucks County over Trump in 2016, but by a much smaller margin smaller margin.
This is not the first time Newsom has canvassed for Biden’s 2024 candidacy; he has done so often deputy in the president’s re-election campaigneven speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press in February that it was Biden’s age that made him “so successful” as president.
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But pundits have speculated that Newsom and a handful of other Democratic governors, including Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, are among Biden’s possible successors on the Democratic ticket if he were to step down. While that seems unlikely nearly a week later, following Biden’s lackluster performance in the first debate with former President Donald Trump, a near-constant chorus of Washington columnists and insiders have suggested that the 81-year-old Biden should step down in favor of a younger alternative as the Democratic nominee.
But Newsom said he wasn’t considering it.
“I would never turn my back on President Biden. I would never turn my back on President Biden,” he said he said after the debate“I don’t know of any Democrat in my party who would do that. And especially after tonight, we have his back. We’re not running 90 yards. We’re all in this. We’re going to double down on this in the next few months.”
