Throughout this election cycle, California Gov. Gavin Newsom traveled the country campaigning for the Democratic presidential ticket, making stops in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Hampshire, Georgia, South Carolina, Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Nevada.
He ran his own campaign to raise money for Democrats in red states, became the party’s fighter on conservative television shows and acted as a proxy for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
After crisscrossing America, the Democratic governor is spending the final days of the 2024 election in a place where he hasn’t campaigned very much this year: his home state.
“You can do anything. You can’t do everything,” Newsom said about his effort to balance his responsibilities to campaign nationally and in California during an interview. “I mean, if there was an eighth day I’d use it.”
Newsom’s appearances this weekend in Orange County highlighted an irony of his strategy: As the governor wooed donors in Boise, Idaho, and defended Biden in Atlanta, Democrats in California have waged a fierce fight in key congressional races largely without the state’s most powerful politician by their side.
California has several battleground House races that will help determine which party controls Congress next year. The closest contests are in regions of the state where polls show Newsom is most unpopular with voters. The governor’s decision to spend more time campaigning outside California than in its most competitive districts may actually help his Golden State allies — and his own political career.
“He’s not only working on the presidential campaign for Vice President Harris, but there’s no doubt that he’s also working on his own potential presidential campaign, and he doesn’t need to do that in California,” said Matt Rexroad, a Republican strategist. “He knows all those people.”
With two years left before term limits force Newsom out of the governor’s office, traveling the nation for Biden and Harris allowed him to showcase himself as a seasoned politician and a prolific fundraiser while building up his list of supporters outside California. The pilgrimages into GOP territory branded the governor as a pugilist capable of landing shots on the Republican Party and former President Trump.
Though Newsom endorsed just a handful of Democrats running for Congress and declined to take an official stance on seven of the 10 measures on the statewide ballot, the governor said he’s put in work as California’s top Democrat.
He raised nearly $2 million for eight Democratic candidates in California congressional contests, his aides said, and has made appearances in several districts throughout the long campaign season.
“We’ve been doing a lot of fundraising for the congressional folks for almost two years,” Newsom said.
On Sunday, Newsom joined a lineup that included Senate candidate Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and several others rallying for Democrat Derek Tran at a United Food and Commercial Workers union hall in Buena Park.
He told the crowd he was there for two main reasons: to thank the volunteers canvassing and making calls for Democrats and to support Tran in his effort to oust Republican Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Seal Beach) — a contest considered one of the most important congressional races in the country.
“That’s how important you are to the fate and future, not just of this district, but in many respects, the fate and future of this country,” Newsom said to campaign workers in the room.
Though Newsom wasn’t physically present in Orange County and Palm Springs for most of the election, he became a central figure in some of the races.
Republican incumbents have been tying their Democratic challengers to Newsom in an effort to scare off moderate voters and stoke their base.
In an ad by GOP Rep. Ken Calvert’s campaign in Congressional District 41, the governor’s face transforms into that of Calvert’s Democratic opponent, Will Rollins.
“He’s slick, loves taxes, and more liberal than Gavin Newsom,” the narrator says as Newsom’s image blends with Rollins’.
The ad claims that Rollins, “just like Newsom,” will drive up gas prices, property and income taxes for residents of the Riverside County district that stretches from Corona to the Coachella Valley and includes Palm Springs.
“We can’t stop Newsom, but we can stop radical Will Rollins,” the ad says.
Newsom brushed off the ad as “politics,” but Rexroad said the governor’s approval ratings in swing districts in California make him an easy foil for the GOP.
A statewide poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, or PPIC, in October found that a majority of voters disapprove of Newsom’s performance as governor. His ratings were worse in the Central Valley, Orange County, San Diego and the Inland Empire, where about 6 in 10 voters disapprove.
Those are the regions where Democrats are working to flip several GOP-held House seats.
“For [Republican Rep.] David Valadao, he would like nothing more than for [Democrat] Rudy Salas and Gavin Newsom to be on the front page of the Bakersfield Californian and all of the other news there for the rest of the election,” Rexroad said. “The governor is extremely unpopular in the Central Valley.”
Newsom didn’t appear over the weekend in the Kern County district where Salas is seeking to oust Valadao (R-Hanford).
The governor pushed back on the idea that Democrats were concerned about appearing with him.
“Folks are looking for all the support they can get consistently and have throughout this campaign,” he said.
In Orange County, Republicans seized on Newsom’s appearance days before he even appeared with Tran.
In a news release, Steel, Tran’s opponent, called out Newsom’s role as his campaign “closer.”
“Bringing Newsom to town tells voters everything they need to know about where Derek Tran’s loyalties lie: With the Sacramento crew that wants to take their tax raising, zero-bail policies to Washington,” Steel said in a statement.
Despite the numbers, former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer said Democratic campaigns are using the governor because they believe he can help. Newsom, she said, is good at “delivering messages that cross over.”
“They are in the closing days, and they know who they want,” Boxer said of the campaigns. “But I really think he’s an asset everywhere because I think he’s an excellent campaigner. He’s a very smart campaigner. He knows the issues that move people. I wouldn’t go by approval ratings — nobody’s off the charts.”
The last few days of an election are largely about increasing turnout and less so about changing minds, or flipping votes, when many voters have already decided on their candidate and turned in ballots.
PPIC pollster Mark Baldassare said it makes sense for congressional campaigns to use Newsom in the waning days of the election to drive Democrats to the polls.
“I don’t really see much of a downside risk,” Baldassare said. “I see the upside of having the most well-known Democrat in California, other than Kamala Harris, out there as a possible motivator for Democrats more than a motivator for Republicans to go the other way.”
Newsom’s late appearances in the congressional districts give him an opportunity to later say he played a part, even if minor, if Democrats win the House. It also limits the potential damage and time GOP campaigns have to use his visits to their advantage.
Despite the critics of Newsom’s election priorities and potential motivations, it’s smart for politicians to campaign in a way that boosts others and themselves, said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego.
“Politicians do things in their own self-interest,” Kousser said. “But successful politicians do things that help them and their allies, and the savviest politicians do those things very visibly.”
