California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) says that he will not run for the U.S. presidency in 2024.
Newsom said as much during a recently taped interview with NBC. The interview is set to air during Sunday's broadcast of Meet the Press. But, a clip from the interview has been released, and this clip is the source of this article.
In the clip, NBC anchor Chuck Todd asked Newsom - in light of the fact that the 2024 filing deadlines have not elapsed - "If President Biden doesn’t run, why shouldn’t we consider you a likely candidate?"
Newsom, in response to Todd's question, made it clear that he firmly supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Well, I think the vice president is naturally the one lined up, and the filing deadlines are quickly coming to pass and I think we need to move past this notion that he’s not going to run," Newsom said.
He continued, "President Biden is going to run, and we’re looking forward to getting him reelected. I think there has been so much wallowing in the last few months and hammering in this respect but we are gearing up for the campaign we are looking forward to it."
Todd followed up by asking Newsom to respond to "donors who are wallowing."
"Time to move on. Let's go," Newsom replied.
Then, Todd asked, "Am I supposed to interpret that comment about the vice president that if some reason the president doesn’t run everyone rallies around her?"
"That's the natural - It’s the Biden-Harris administration," Newsom said.
"[Do] you respect that?" Todd asked, to which Newsome replied: "Maybe I’m a little old-fashioned about presidents and vice presidents. I was a lieutenant governor so I’m a little subjective."
For many months now, there has been talk about the possibility that Newsom might enter into the 2024 race for the U.S. presidency. Newsom, himself, encouraged this talk by refusing to rule out the possibility that he might run, as he did in an interview with Fox News in June.
Many have been encouraging Newsom to enter into the running. This is because serious questions have been raised about the viability of Biden or Harris as the Democratic Party's 2024 presidential nominee. Many have argued that Newsom is a better candidate than either Biden or Harris - and this is probably a fairly solid argument.
But, Newsom now seems to make it clear that the Democrats are going to align behind either Biden or Harris in 2024. The question going forward is whether the Democratic voters will do the same.
