High-profile Democratic governors are stumping for President Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign and simultaneously auditioning to become the party’s next standard-bearer.
Their efforts signal they are unlikely to cede that role in 2028 to Vice President Kamala Harris, whose sluggish approval ratings have raised doubts among some donors and party officials about whether she can effectively succeed Biden.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has toured red states such as Idaho, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama to campaign for Biden and other Democrats, and earlier this year launched a political-action committee targeting Republican policies. He has found a foil in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a contender for the 2024 Republican nomination. They have run attack ads against each other, sparred over issues such as climate change, abortion rights and gun control and agreed to a debate moderated by Sean Hannity on Fox News.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore raised money for Democratic governors on the sidelines of the annual Allen & Co. Sun Valley Conference in July, offered a televised response to the first GOP debate and attended recent fundraisers in New York’s summer enclaves of the Hamptons.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will travel to New Hampshire next month for a keynote address to the state Democratic Party’s convention. And Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who was vetted as a possible Biden running mate in 2020, promoted the recent anniversary of the president’s climate and jobs legislation.
The Democratic governors, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, have endorsed Biden’s re-election and played down their presidential ambitions. But their work to build a national network, a common task by future presidential hopefuls, is more noteworthy this year as the president nears his 81st birthday and questions linger about whether he could serve a full second term that would take him to age 86.
Some Democrats privately say that should an unexpected health scare derail Biden’s re-election campaign, many high-profile Democrats, including governors and members of Congress, would consider getting in the 2024 race alongside Harris.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, who sought the Democratic nomination in 2020, said he expected any primary race to succeed Biden in 2028 would be “contested” and called Harris a “dynamic, compelling candidate in 2028.” But he added: “Do I think everybody’s just going to get out of the way? That’s hard to imagine.”
Biden faces minimal opposition in the primaries from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, who has promoted various conspiracies.
A Biden campaign aide said the president had promised to be a conduit to the next generation of Democratic leaders and has intentionally ensured his re-election campaign would help do that through surrogates.
The party is only three years removed from its last presidential cycle, when more than two dozen Democrats sought its nomination. Those include candidates who could mount future presidential campaigns, including Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
“In the absence of having a young, vibrant president, the party needs to put forward new faces, new voices,” said Nina Smith, a Democratic operative who worked for Buttigieg’s presidential campaign. “I think you’re seeing the next generation of political leadership in this country emerging through the Biden re-election campaign and who the surrogates are.”
Harris’s political abilities have been a prominent focus of Biden’s first term and now his re-election campaign. Some Republican presidential candidates, such as former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, have said that re-electing Biden would lead to a Harris presidency. Polls of Democrats suggest voters would have preferred an alternative candidate at the top of the ticket.
Harris has recently stepped up her public engagements, countering complaints from some Democrats that the vice president has faded from public view, and emerged as the administration’s leading voice on issues such as abortion access and voting rights. Allies say Harris is singularly focused on the 2024 re-election campaign and not her political future, although some insist she will be a front-runner to lead the Democratic Party should she make another run for the White House.
Jamal Simmons, a former Harris communications director, said the vice president is an effective messenger against Republicans and suggested a contested primary would only make her stronger.
“I just think it would be incredibly hard to beat her with the institutional power she has, the democratic reach she has and her commitment to the issues that Democrats care about,” he said.
Buttigieg has focused on official travel as transportation secretary. His extensive travels promoting the infrastructure law and frequent cable television appearances have helped him maintain his role as one of the most recognizable Biden cabinet officials.
The former South Bend, Ind., mayor has effectively frozen his political committee since joining the cabinet but still wields clout from his 2020 campaign. After Biden announced his re-election bid, Buttigieg helped organize a New York City fundraiser in May at the home of former Blackstone executive Tony James.
Newsom has been arguably the most visible among the governors in elevating his profile. While he has maintained those efforts are simply in the service of his party, those stops have enabled the California governor to cultivate a database of potential supporters and meet with donors in states often overlooked by national Democrats.
It is not uncommon for sitting or ex-vice presidents to face competition when seeking their party’s presidential nomination and ultimately prevail. George H.W. Bush and Al Gore both went through contested primaries. Mike Pence has struggled to gain traction in a crowded 2024 Republican field dominated by former President Donald Trump. Biden himself faced a crowded Democratic field in 2020.
Shapiro’s trip to New Hampshire is expected to focus on the importance of Democrats winning the governor’s race next year following the decision by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu to not seek another term. The speech will take place a week before a Democratic National Committee meeting in St. Louis where the fate of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary could be decided.
“The most prominent figures on the Democratic bench are the ones out raising money for the Biden-Harris re-elect, and most of them are our Democratic governors,” said Alex Heckler, a Miami attorney who serves as deputy finance chair of the Democratic National Committee.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/the-race-to-succeed-president-biden-is-heating-up-on-the-2024-campaign-trail-c23e70b1
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