California governor Gavin Newsom will reportedly attend the second Republican presidential debate in his state next week as part of President Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign efforts, according to media reports.
Biden advisers are sending Newsom and other top officials to the GOP event on Wednesday in order to contrast the president’s views, particularly on the economy, with Republican talking points, Axios reported. The primary debate, which will be co-hosted by Fox Business and Fox News in Simi Valley, California, is expected to give each Republican candidate a national platform to outline their economic vision for 2024.
The Messenger first reported on the Democratic strategy last month.
Newsom’s appearance will be used to contrast, among other issues, the difference between “Bidenomics” and “MAGAnomics” — the latter of which Biden coined earlier this month.
“Under MAGAnomics, as I’ve called it, tens of millions of Americans could lose their insurance,” the president said at an event on Sept. 14, pitching his economic agenda to the audience. “Waiting lists would skyrocket for seniors who need home or community-based care because they have nowhere else to go; they can’t — have no family to take [care] of them. Children would not get adequate healthcare.”
According to Biden aides, campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez and Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison will also be in attendance to focus on counterprogramming targeted toward Latino voters in the area where the Republican debate is located.
Additionally, the DNC will fly a plane over Southern California with a sign reading, “2024 GOP: A Race for the Extreme MAGA Base,” per a Biden adviser.
“The campaign response builds off the strong and effective plan from the first debate with a clear north star: Push back on Republicans’ lies and highlight their extremism at every turn,” Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for Biden’s second presidential campaign, told Axios.
Newsom, who’s been speculated to run for president in 2024, has publicly supported Biden’s re-election amid growing concerns about the president’s age and vitality within the Democratic Party. “The train has left the station,” Newsom told The New York Times this month. “We’re all in. Stop talking. He’s not going anywhere. It’s time for all of us to get on the train and buck up.”
In recent months, California’s Democratic governor has rapidly grown his political profile on the national stage, in part by challenging Florida governor Ron DeSantis to a personal debate in November. Currently, Newsom is not running for president.