Newsom, left, with President Joe Biden in 2021. White House photo.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 9, 2023 | Given the current political circumstances, you can see why there are few viable Democratic candidates for president in 2024.
Democrats feel that President Joe Biden is doing a good job as the leader of the nation, passing numerous bills through the Congress, in spite of having nothing less than staunch opposition from the leadership-less Republicans. Why challenge a successful first-term Democratic president?
Future Democratic presidential candidates also realize that they don’t want to go through being beat up over and over by Donald Trump (if he is the Republican standard bearer.) Why go through what will almost for sure be continual condemnation of them and their family, the way Trump always bullies people?
Then consider: why go up against a sitting-President Biden if you are almost sure to lose the Democratic nomination. Though all in the party are concerned about Biden’s age, it just doesn’t seem worth it to put your name out there when you know Biden will likely have no trouble being the nominee of the party.
Then there’s what appears to be another logical argument. With former President Trump facing multiple lawsuits in the next year, who’s to say he’ll be the party nominee? It is looking more likely that Trump will be spending lots of time in court in the next 18 months, and not be able to spend as much time on the campaign trail. Will the GOP realize this, and feel it necessary to dump Trump and nominate someone else, like DeSantis of Florida? He doesn’t have the baggage that Trump has, though he has his own similar faults.
Meanwhile, one key Democratic figure who seems like B’rer Rabbit, just hiding in the briar patch, is California Governor Gavin Newsom. Some Democrats look upon Newsom as a viable future presidential candidate. Now age 55, he is perfectly set to run for president in 2028. The most likely opponent for the nomination could be another Californian, Vice President Kamala Harris, who now holds a more visible current stage than Newsom.
But look around: are there other major named Democratic possibilities? None jump into the mind quickly. Perhaps the fact that assuming Joe Biden runs for a second term and will likely win the nomination, why should any other Democrat get involved now when mounting a viable campaign for president is so far-fetched?
About Newsom: he’s a fourth generation San Franciscan, who at age 36 became the youngest mayor of that city in 100 years. He held the position for two terms, and then was elected lieutenant governor of the state, also for two terms. He won the election for governor in 2018, and again in 2022, after easily surviving a 2021 recall election.
Childhood wasn’t easy for Newsom, who has dyslexia. It has challenged his abilities to write, spell, read, and work with numbers. Throughout his schooling, Newsom had to rely on a combination of audiobooks, digests, and informal verbal instruction. Meanwhile, he was an athlete, in basketball and baseball, and graduating in political science from Santa Clara University on a baseball scholarship.
In 1991, Newsom and associates started a winery, which has been successful. The company has grown to manage 23 businesses, including wineries, restaurants and hotels.
The lack of major Democratic presidential figures make it even more likely that Gavin Newsom will continue to stay in the limelight as the effective California governor back there in the brier patch, just willing to come out when needed.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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