Gavin Newsom travels to Washington to ‘stand with’ Biden amid calls to step down

SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom will travel to Washington on Wednesday to attend a meeting between President Joe Biden and Democratic governors amid the fallout from the president’s disastrous debate with former President Donald Trump.

"Governor Newsom will head to White House tomorrow to attend the Governors meeting and to stand with the President,” a spokesperson for the California Democrat said late Tuesday.

As White House aides scramble to tamp down fears about the president’s cognitive abilities in the wake of Thursday’s shaky debate performance, Biden will gather with Democratic governors and congressional leaders Wednesday evening. The meeting follows a Monday call when two dozen Democratic governors gathered to discuss among themselves how they should respond to the crisis situation. Newsom, whose name frequently appears in polls alongside other Democratic surrogates like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as potential replacements, was not on the call.

Newsom is a steadfast Biden supporter and was on hand in Atlanta last week to try to buoy the president from the spin room after the debate that saw the 81-year-old incumbent appearing confused and struggling to answer some questions. Newsom, while acknowledging a lackluster performance, quickly dismissed calls for Biden to step aside, saying that the American public should look at his record in office — not a 90-minute debate.

Newsom has continued offering vocal — and financial — support for the Biden campaign in the days since the debate, helping raise several hundred thousand dollars for the president and the Democratic National Committee in the hours after it aired. Meanwhile Newsom did his best to ignore intense speculation about whether he would step in to replace the president on the Democratic ticket.