Polls show Democrats don’t think Joe Biden can win.
That’s because at the moment, Donald Trump is favored to defeat Biden.
And Joe Biden let the cat out of the bag on which Democrat will replace him.
As Black Eye Politics reports:
President Biden openly supported California Gov. Gavin Newsom as a future candidate for president, saying the Governor “could have the job I’m looking for.”
“Good evening, everyone, I think there’s folks back up there, on that barrier. There are. Holy mackerel. Don’t jump,” President Biden said to the crowd at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
“When the United States offered to host this summit, we knew we needed a location dynamic and diverse as APEC itself. And APEC in San Francisco, here we are,” Biden said at a reception for leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
Biden then went on to shower praise on Governor Newsom.
“I want to talk about Governor Newsom. I want to thank him. He’s been one hell of a governor, man,” Biden said. “Matter of fact he can be anything he wants. He could have the job I’m looking for.”
Newsom has been criticized by some fellow Democrats for running a shadow presidential campaign.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) blasted Newsom earlier this month for his presidential ambitions.
“There are two additional Democrats running for … president right now,” Fetterman said, according to NBC News. “One is a congressman from Minnesota, the other one is the governor of California, but only one has the guts to announce it.”
“If you are a Democrat that wants to criticize and go after Joe Biden, our president, just go ahead and write a check for Trump,” Fetterman reportedly added.
One signal that Newsom is looking to raise his profile comes from a donation he made to a Democrat mayoral candidate in Charleston, South Carolina.
“South Carolina is an early state in the primary process for Democrats, and doing well in the early states is seen as momentum for later ones,” said Eric Schickler, professor of political science at University of California, Berkeley, told The Guardian.
“In fact, Biden’s win in South Carolina is really what propelled him to the top 2020, so building connections to important politicians in the state can certainly be seen by potential candidates as an important step.”
However, Newsom has claimed in public that he’s not interested in running against Biden in 2024.
“I’m rooting for our president and I have great confidence in his leadership,” Newsom told Fox News earlier this year.