MT. LEBANON, Pennsylvania — Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) held a campaign event for President Joe Biden in one of the wealthiest suburbs of Pittsburgh on Friday. His speech was an effort to put out the growing fire of calls for Biden not to seek reelection one week after his disastrous debate in Atlanta with former President Donald Trump .
A few dozen older guests, along with a handful of younger families, crowded into the second-floor office of a strip mall law firm to hear Newsom put the brakes on escalating calls for Biden to leave the race.
Newsom then attended a meeting with members of the Service Employees International Union in downtown Pittsburgh. He is scheduled to head to Bucks County on Saturday morning for additional low-key events to bolster the argument that Biden should stay in the race.
Despite his surrogate work for Biden, Newsom, along with the Democratic governors of Michigan, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, are all at the top of the list as potential replacement candidates should Biden drop out.
Local grassroots activists and labor leaders said they were scratching their heads not only as to why Newsom had been chosen as a surrogate for Biden considering his interest in replacing him on the ticket but also as to why a strip mall law office was chosen as the venue.
Newsom was here shortly before Biden gave a speech in Wisconsin, where the president defiantly doubled down on his vow to stay in the race, saying, “There's been a lot of speculation: 'What's Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What's he going to do?' Well, here's my answer: I am running and gonna win again," Biden said in Madison, the state capital.
Biden shouted at the crowd that people are trying to push him out of the race: "Let me say it as clear as I can: I'm staying in the race!"
Newsom spoke to SEIU members, the social justice organization that has the most active volunteers within the party, in an effort to calm fears among the progressive activists.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who has been a stalwart supporter of Biden staying in the race, said in an interview with the Washington Examiner that he wants to see Biden here in western Pennsylvania giving Democrats reassurance: "Erie [County] is the ultimate bellwether. Erie picks Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania picks the next president."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Fetterman said he also would like to see Biden in Cambria and Beaver counties connecting with voters in the way the president had the potential to do, adding he is tired of members of his own party lining up saying Biden should leave.
“I don't know what's in it for them other than they get their name mentioned,” Fetterman said, adding, “I think Joe Biden after 50 years in his career deserves to have the kind of space and the dignity and our support. And of course he's very clear that he is going to make his case.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0