New Hampshire Dems question what Newsom has to offer

Por Tyler Katzenberger — POLITICO – TOP Stories

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Gavin Newsom packed town halls and drew cheers from swarms of Democrats with his promise of a “blue tsunami” in the midterms.

But as he raced across this early primary state on Saturday, some of New Hampshire’s most plugged-in Democrats were already questioning what more, exactly, the California governor has to offer.

“I don’t have a sense, with Gavin Newsom, as to what would attract people to get on board,” former Rep. Annie Kuster told POLITICO.

Kuster, a longtime Pete Buttigieg supporter, described Newsom as “flashy,” saying of New Hampshire voters, “They’re not looking for a traditional sort of big government, big state, ‘Oh, whoo-hoo! It’s the governor.’ They don’t know how being governor of California is going to translate into helping their life in New Hampshire [and] this focus on the high cost of living, the focus on the corruption in Washington.”

Or as former New Hampshire Senate leader Sylvia Larsen put it: “Here comes another California politician who thinks he can win up here.”

The attitude was a marked contrast to this spring, when Newsom last visited New Hampshire after a California gerrymandering campaign that drew widespread praise from Democrats across the country. His polling nationally, while strong, slipped in the months since. And nowhere is that clearer than New Hampshire. Since his last visit to the state in March, his support in the 2028 presidential primary fell from 15% to just 7% in the most recent Saint Anselm College survey, trailing Buttigieg, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. University of New Hampshire polling over the summer registered a similar decline.

“I think there’s this sense of looking for the new, freshest, most powerful statement we can find,” said former New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Kathy Sullivan. While maintaining that Newsom could still regain his footing, she said, “Gavin had that leadership, or at least that attention, but now people have moved on, you know, and they’re looking deeper in the woods.”

In interviews with more than a dozen Democratic strategists, party activists and public officials here, many said they saw Newsom’s California roots as a liability — what Larsen called “something about California politicians that is seen as a little woo-woo or something” — even as they praised his combativeness, his looks and his strength as a fundraiser.

Newsom, speaking to POLITICO in Manchester, recited a list of accomplishments, from lowering insulin prices and loosening building regulations to expanding health care access during his tenure. And then the governor, who has accused the state’s skeptics of suffering from a conservative media-driven “California Derangement Syndrome,” suggested he could sell the state’s record if he runs.

“If I run,” he said, “I run. And I get out there and I start to provide a vision that I think can address some of the challenges of this country. I can promote some of the work we’ve done in California. I could talk about lessons learned, these struggles, these challenges that we face, the mistakes we’ve made, where we were slow.”

It’s not just California’s cost-of-living that has Democrats here raising doubts about Newsom. Some mentioned his years-old scandal in which he was caught dining out at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Napa during the Covid pandemic lockdown and his “concerning” comments about trans women in sports. “I hope he walks that back,” said state Rep. Christal Lloyd.

Others yet grumbled about his ties to the tech industry or his opposition to a November ballot proposal to tax the assets of California’s billionaires. (Newsom, speaking to reporters in Exeter, bashed the measure as “badly written,” argued it’s unpopular even among many Democrats and said he’d rather see action at the federal level.)

“That’s the problem. He’s charismatic. He’s charming. He speaks well. He knows how to create the illusion of a fight, but given the moment we’re in, we need someone who isn’t so wedded to the money, because the money is destroying democracy,” said Arnie Arnesen, a liberal radio host and former New Hampshire state legislator.

In drawing Newsom to the state to rally with them for their midterm campaigns, Senate candidate Chris Pappas, House candidate Stefany Shaheen and governor candidate Cinde Warmington made clear they saw him as an asset. Shaheen told POLITICO in a statement on Saturday evening that “it was terrific to have Governor Newsom in town” because “he never backs down from a fight.”

On the stump, while Pappas, Shaheen and other local politicians focused their speeches on gas prices, AI data centers and kitchen-table issues, Newsom returned to his familiar themes: a redistricting war with Texas and what he cast as Trump’s “smash-and-grab” leverage of the presidency to enrich his allies and target his enemies.

“That’s why we took a different path in the state of California,” he said in Nashua. “The right is ruthless. Trump is ruthless. And I’m sorry, but we need to be a little more ruthless.”

The crowds ate it up. Lines to shake Newsom’s hand lasted upwards of 15 minutes, supporters urged him to visit again, and some brought copies of his memoir, “Young Man In a Hurry,” for an autograph. Matt Mayberry, CEO of the New Hampshire Home Builders Association, went to CVS to print out a photo he took with Newsom in Nashua hours earlier, then brought it back for the governor to sign in Manchester.

“Last night my husband looked up from the board game and he said, ‘That guy’s got the rizz, and he’s got the brains,’” Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) said in Nashua. “He’s got the brains, and thank God for it. He’s running the fourth-largest economy in the world.”

For all the skepticism about his California baggage, Newsom’s still polling among frontrunners nationally, and he’s a fundraising powerhouse: Newsom’s team told POLITICO that he’d raised some $576,000 for New Hampshire Democrats via his potent small-dollar email list this cycle. A sign hanging in a Democratic field office in Nashua read “Thank you Governor Gavin Newsom for this office.”

“I’m not on the ballot this year,” Newsom told POLITICO, when asked about his standing among potential 2028 contenders. “They’re running big campaigns, I’m just supporting other people’s campaigns all across the country.”

But even some Newsom allies in New Hampshire fear he’s behind in cultivating the connections necessary to compete in a state with a long tradition of retail politics — and on the other side of the country from California. Renae Lias, a candidate for the state Legislature, said she likes Newsom best among the potential 2028 contenders but acknowledged California was a potential liability.

“It’s kind of the anti-New Hampshire,” Lias said. “I generally have a negative impression.”

It is not an insignificant concern. While the Democratic National Committee cemented South Carolina as the first primary state, it still has New Hampshire going third. Buttigieg visited the state earlier this month, and Kamala Harris, the former vice president and Newsom’s fellow Californian, plans to campaign here for Democrats next week.

“New Hampshire is going to eat him up in a woodchipper if he doesn’t start calling people who’ve supported him,” said Jay Surdukowski, a longtime Democratic activist who co-chaired Martin O’Malley’s 2016 presidential campaign in the state.

Surdukowski, who penned an op-ed in 2023 calling on Newsom to run for president, even before Joe Biden’s campaign collapsed, said he thinks the governor is still “central casting for being president.” And yet even he wondered: “How much will California be baggage for him?”

Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories