SACRAMENTO, California – Governor Gavin Newsom marveled at Kamala Harris’ first 48-hour run as the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee, after fielding questions on his own podcast about why he’s not running.
Newsom’s debut podcast on Wednesday, alongside former NFL great Marshawn Lynch and his friend, sports agent Doug Hendrickson, represents the California governor’s first public comments since President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed Harris on Sunday.
Lynch opened the discussion on his “Politickin’” show with a question to Newsom: “Hell, Gavin, why did the [expletive] Aren’t you running for president,” he asked.
“[Expletive] that,” Lynch said, referring to Newsom as ‘Batman.’ “Sorry.”
Newsom, 56, rose through the ranks of San Francisco and then California politics with Harris, 59. Each looked over their shoulder at the other over the years, apparently on a crash course for a run for the White House. Now, Harris is on the cusp of the presidency.
Lynch said the whole situation was “more spicy” because “I’m sitting with possibly the mother-[expletive] this could really happen.
Newsom laughed. Harris’ rise has created a big question mark over Newsom’s future that won’t be answered until voters pass judgment on her in November. If Harris defeats the former president donald trump, Newsom would be sidelined from running for the White House for up to eight years, and possibly forever. If she loses, he will immediately begin ramping up his own campaign in 2028, with Trump as his foil for the final two years of his administration.
Newsom didn’t get into any of this on the show. Instead, he recounted that fateful morning moment by moment.
He said he was working out on a gym treadmill when he started receiving texts and calls from people about Biden dropping out. Newsom said he was surprised.
“That was the last thing I expected on a quiet Sunday,” he said. Newsom said he was not warned before the tweet left Biden’s account.
Newsom said his phone was lighting up so much that he missed texts from the White House and calls to him from Biden and Harris. He did not say whether he has been connected to any of them since then, and a spokesperson did not have an immediate response.
“I didn’t even see them because I had hundreds of text messages,” he said. “The president calls, the vice president calls, I’m still in the damn gym. …I didn’t even know they called because the rest of my phone was lighting up and I was just focused on releasing a statement in the name of the president.”
Newsom issued this statement on Biden on Sunday morning. Later on Sunday afternoon, he released another statement endorsing Harris. He did not comment on the situation until his podcast aired on Wednesday.
On the show, Newsom then addressed Lynch and his encouragement, without mentioning himself but saying that people are now invested in Harris.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Newsom said. “Just a few years ago, her hometown girl from Oakland, on Martin Luther King Day, she had an unbelievable rally. Almost 20—, 15, 20,000 people… announcing it campaign for president.”
Newsom highlighted the $1.5 million Harris then raised in the first 24 hours. This time, Harris’s 24-hour profit was $81 million. And it has grown significantly since then.
Newsom called for Harris to appear on Tuesday at a rally in Milwaukee “unbelievable”, with “next level” energy.
“The script was flipped, just like that, 48 hours,” he said. “This is a binary choice. You have a guy who wants to bring us back to a pre-1960s world and then you have Kamala Harris, who is shining a light on everything right now. Lighting up,” he said.
“I feel sorry for Donald Trump now. He wasn’t prepared for this to happen. He is down to earth.
The hosts then turned to other topics, including an interview with the Golden State Warriors great Draymond Verdewho warned Newsom that people will likely criticize him for having a podcast while he’s still governor, as they did with Green, who started his show as an active player.
Lynch intervened with a message to potential critics: “Shut up [expletive] above.”
