Governor Gavin Newsom is revving up his fundraising machine in a manner typically seen from White House contenders as President Joe Biden continues to be dogged by doubts over his advanced age amid unfolding GOP probes into his corrupt activities.
Even though the California Democrat previously denied that he was considering jumping into the race for the party’s nomination, things have changed as Biden remains a deeply unpopular and divisive leader with dismal approval ratings and the 80-year-old career politician’s mental misfires and stumbles are only getting worse, not to mention the potential impeachment inquiry into a foreign bribery scheme.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the ambitious Newsom is “taking fundraising steps often used by potential presidential candidates, setting up multiple committees that in their first three months have raised and spent millions of dollars.”
“The three Newsom-affiliated committees are a political action committee, which limits contributions to $5,000 a year and can donate to individual candidates; a SuperPAC, which can raise unlimited amounts of cash but is restricted from promoting a specific candidate, and a joint fundraising committee, which functions like a bank, mostly collecting and distributing funds to the other groups,” the outlet reported.
“For someone who has an interest in launching a presidential campaign, these are the first steps you’d take,” Brendan Glavin, senior data analyst at the nonprofit transparency group Open Secrets said. “I wouldn’t say it’s set in stone, but certainly you wouldn’t do all of these things if you weren’t thinking about it.”
As his star rises in a Democratic Party that may be getting close to shuffling Biden off the political stage, Newsom now is being forced to back up his tough words after his fellow governor, Republican Ron DeSantis of Florida called him on his challenge, accepting a one-on-one debate on the direction of the country.
(Video: Grabien/Fox News)
On Wednesday, Governor DeSantis appeared on Fox News where he told host Sean Hannity, ”Absolutely I’m game, let’s get it done just tell me when and where. We’ll do it.”
“In one respect, the debate between California and Florida, you know, has already been had, as you suggest,” he said. “People have been voting on that. They have been voting on it with their feet. They have fled California in record numbers, Florida has been the number one state for net in-migration. We have the number one ranked economy, number one now in education, crime rate at a 50-year low.”
“But in another sense, this is the debate for the future of our country,” DeSantis continued. “Because you have people like Joe Biden, they would love to see the Californication of the United States. Biden may not even be the nominee. You could have Gavin Newsom. You could have Kamala Harris. And I think if we go down that direction, that’s gonna accelerate American decline. We can’t see America decline anymore. We need to reverse American decline.”
“Governor Newsom has been challenging DeSantis to debate for months and sent him a formal debate offer last week. Nov. 8 or 10 — DeSantis should put up or shut up. Anything else is just games,” a spokesperson for Newsom previously said in a statement.
The terms of a DeSantis-Newsom debate, the date, or a location have yet to be officially announced.
Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.