The White House announced this week that President Biden will fly to California on Wednesday to campaign for Gov. Gavin Newsom ahead of the September 14 recall election.
Which raises a basic question: Why? After all, Biden is in the midst of the most challenging period of his young presidency as the situation in Afghanistan, the Delta variant of Covid-19 and the situation at the southern border have combined to complicate his political fortunes. (Sidebar: It possible that Biden cancels his planned California trip, as Vice President Kamala Harris did this week.) And it’s a long way to go to defend a Democratic governor in one of the most Democratic states in the country. Given all of that, there’s really only one answer to that question above as to why Biden is making the trip for Newsom: The President — and Democratic strategists more generally — are worried about the governor losing the recall vote.
