Gov. Gavin Newsom is running for president, but not in the way you might think | Opinion

It was a busy week of new names in the 2024 presidential race. On the Republican side, entrants included former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. On the Democratic side, it was California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Republican candidates will participate in a formal primary process with customary debates and staged events. The field will narrow, and a winner will emerge.

Newsom, however, is creating an electoral process for the Democratic Party that is unique in the modern American political experience. Call it the “Shadow Primary.” He will not be on the ballot in any state, yet he will find new ways to be in the forefront of the nation’s political conversation on a weekly basis.

Opinion

He will deny what he is doing, but don’t blame him. He is actually doing the right thing, albeit in a spectacularly disingenuous way.

President Joe Biden’s age issue is real. So far neither he nor the Democratic Party knows what to do about it. He took office at age 78 — the oldest of any president in history — and he wants to leave office at age 86. This issue is too consequential to sweep under the rug. Other candidates need to be vetted, if not through traditional primary elections then by weathering the political spotlight.

The devolving state of 89-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein is a powerful reminder of the age issue. In hindsight, the best candidates should have challenged the incumbent in 2018, and the party should have welcomed a polite campaign.

But that isn’t what happened. In 2018, she won at age 85 against a weak field. And then age rapidly caught up with her.

It’s all too common.

Biden has had an extraordinary three years as president with clear victories on diplomatic relations, the economy and the 2022 midterm elections. He has reason to consider another term. But he is not a young 80.

My Instagram feed every day is filled with paid advertising videos, the sources hard to discern. Biden is stumbling. He is falling. He is misspeaking. His garbled answer to 60 Minutes as to whether he was running for re-election was painful.

Perhaps I am a target audience for this advertising as a 62-year-old white male. Regardless, it is a reminder that there is a sophisticated messaging campaign targeting Joe Biden and the age issue. And Newsom has to be very aware of that.

Newsom’s campaign feels part planned, part spontaneous.

Take this week as an example: First, he threatened to press kidnapping charges against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when it was revealed that he was behind the airlift of recent immigrants from Texas to Sacramento. A classic seizing of the news.

Then back on the playbook, he and Attorney General Rob Bonta entered the school curriculum wars by firing off a letter to a San Diego-area school district demanding answers why the late Harvey Milk, the gay San Francisco Supervisor who was assassinated in 1978 and a political hero, was removed from classroom materials.

He then proposed a first-ever constitutional convention to pass a new amendment aimed at curbing gun violence.

Then Newsom agreed to appear on Fox News this Monday and be interviewed by one of its remaining conservative icons, Sean Hannity.

Then his campaign kicked into high gear: Thursday at 3:20 p.m., my iPhone buzzed.

“Hey Friend. Gavin Newsom here.”

No, we aren’t personal buddies.

“Will you sign my petition supporting a Constitutional amendment on gun violence?.....Add your name if you agree…Thanks. – Gavin Newsom. Stop to stop.”

But it’s just starting.

I would prefer a Democratic presidential primary season like the one the Republicans are having. Age, experience and vision are squarely on the table (and some indictments). The Democrats are avoiding an above-board process to compare different futures for our country.