California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of Biden’s key Democratic campaign surrogates, dismissed concerns about Biden’s candidacy after his widely panned performance in this week’s debate with former President Trump.
“I’m old school, but on substance Joe Biden won last night’s debate and that’s all that matters to me,” Newsom wrote in a fundraising pitch for the Biden campaign on Friday. “Anything else is unhelpful and unnecessary.”
“We are not going to turn our backs on one performance. What kind of political party will do that?” he added.
Biden’s appearance at Thursday night’s debate was widely seen as a defeat, even by some members of his own party.
“Joe Biden had one thing he needed to do tonight, and he didn’t do it,” former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Calif.) said in an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow after the debate. “He had one thing he needed to accomplish, and that was to reassure the public that he was fit for the job at his age, and he didn’t do it.”
“I think we’ll know a lot more in the next few weeks about how this all plays out and how the polls move, but right now I think there are a few things going on and I don’t think I’m the only one whose heart is breaking right now,” she added.
A CNN instant poll after the debate found that 67% of respondents thought Trump won, while 33% thought Biden won. Just four years ago, when the two candidates faced off in the 2020 election, 60% of voters surveyed in the same poll thought Biden won the first debate.
Biden’s voice sounded hoarse on Thursday — a symptom the White House blamed on a cold — and he appeared to struggle to give clear answers to several questions. Biden’s team has denied speculation he might drop out of the race and take over as the Democratic front-runner.
Newsom, 56, has been mentioned as a possible successor to Biden. He has served as governor since 2019 after serving as lieutenant governor and mayor of San Francisco, but California’s term limits mean he cannot seek a third term.
He has fended off multiple gubernatorial recall attempts, remains politically popular among Democrats and has become a rising star within the national party.
“Instead of 30 minutes, look at 3 1/2 years of Joe Biden’s presidency,” Newsom said in an email that included a link to the Democratic National Committee’s online donation portal. “That is my intention, and I hope you will join us.”
Trump, in an interview with Fox News Digital on Friday, said he thinks Biden “is going to be the nominee” despite the post-debate backlash.
“They couldn’t have done any better,” Trump said. “Nobody could have done it better.”
