Crossing state lines for the Democratic cause: Gavin Newsom stumps for Biden in Nevada

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom left California on Sunday to pump up crowds of election volunteers in Reno, traveling from a state sure to vote for former Vice President Joe Biden to one that’s considered a battleground in the presidential race.

It was a rare day of in-person campaigning for Newsom.

In an election year when COVID-19 and record-breaking wildfires have limited the Democratic governor’s ability to attend events in person, his four-hour trip across state lines was the highest profile campaign event he’s done.

He spoke to volunteers heading out to drop literature at voters’ houses and met with LGBT leaders in Reno for a conversation streamed on social media by the Nevada Democratic Party.

“It’s just nice to actually see real people, physically, even six feet apart,” Newsom told The Sacramento Bee while sitting in the Biden campaign’s Reno headquarters.

Newsom said most of his campaigning this election has been via virtual video calls, which are less visible to the public than traditional campaign events. Last week, many of those calls were in support of the Democratic Governors Association and pivotal Senate races in other states.

On Monday, Newsom has about 10 calls lined up to support candidates in state legislative races.

Although he announced positions on nine of the 12 state ballot measures, Newsom hasn’t donated money to those campaigns, despite sitting on a $19 million war chest.

He said he’s done some fundraising for ballot measures, but he hasn’t made a big public push to steer donations to the ballot campaigns he supports. That’s in contrast to earlier this year, when he helped raise more than $10 million for a school bond measure, and in 2016 when he led campaigns for ballot measures on gun control and marijuana legalization.

It’s also a contrast to former Gov. Jerry Brown, who has contributed about $1 million this year to defeat criminal justice measure Proposition 20 and has starred in ads blasting the measure. While he was governor, Brown actively campaigned on a number of measures, including ones to raise sales taxes, establish a state budget rainy day fund and authorize water bonds.

Newsom acknowledged that he’s been less active on ballot measures this year.

“I don’t have the luxury or the freedom to spend that much time on those issues. That said, I’m fundraising for a number of those campaigns,” he said. “We are involved.”

He has also been fundraising for high-profile races outside California.

Since mid-September, he has sent more emails seeking donations for Democratic candidates in close Senate races than California contests. He’s asked his email list of supporters to split donations between himself, Jaime Harrison in South Carolina, Steve Bullock in Montana, Mark Kelly in Arizona, Sara Gideon in Maine, Theresa Greenfield in Iowa, John Hickenlooper in Colorado, Jon Ossoff in Georgia and Cal Cunningham in North Carolina.

In the last two weeks, he has also sent emails asking for donations to Gil Cisneros, Harley Rouda and TJ Cox, all vulnerable California Democrats seeking to hold onto House seats.

Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College, said she sees Newsom’s trip to Reno and campaigning for candidates outside California as evidence he’s got his eyes set on national office. She said an out-of-state trip, especially during a pandemic, is a much bigger commitment of time and energy than the virtual campaigning he’s done for California issues this cycle.

“There’s a difference between putting your name on something and saying you endorse it, and actively spending your time and money campaigning for something,” said Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College. “It is unusual and to my mind fairly odd that he’s using his star power to fundraise for these candidates in other states. It suggests he has his eyes on something outside of California.”

Newsom’s national campaigning could have implications for California. Much of Newsom’s COVID-19 strategy relies on securing more federal aid, a dim prospect in today’s divided and deadlocked Congress. Democratic control of the White House and Congress could help him carry out his own pandemic plans, especially if Democrats in D.C. approve more funding for state coronavirus testing, protective equipment and other areas Newsom has prioritized.

Democrats are fighting to win a majority in the Senate, with a focus on the eight close Senate races Newsom has highlighted.

Biden is up in the polls in Nevada, but the Silver State is still among about 15 that experts believe will determine the outcome of the presidential race.

California Democrats have long crossed state lines in national elections to campaign. Newsom’s appearance in Nevada on behalf of Biden and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris followed a trip from Harris herself last week. California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis visited Saturday.

In the early afternoon, Newsom and Nevada Lt. Gov. Kate Marshall gave a brief speech to pump up a crowd of several dozen volunteers who congregated outside the Reno campaign office before heading out to drop Biden fliers outside homes in the area. About half of them raised their hands when Marshall asked how many were from California.

Ruth Vranas said she traveled from Mountain View to be at the canvassing event. The 67-year-old said she partly planned her retirement around this election, anticipating she would travel to critical regions of the country to campaign for Democrats.

The pandemic thwarted her plans. She said the trip she took this weekend, which also included a stop to help campaign in Modesto, is one of the first opportunities she’s had to do real canvassing.

Seeing Newsom attending the event in Reno indicated to her that Nevada is really in play this year.

“It makes me appreciate that Nevada is still really, really important,” she said.

The California Republican Party took note of Newsom’s trip, suggesting on Twitter that he should be focused on California problems like the state’s embattled unemployment programs and homelessness crisis.

Newsom said he’s spent the last nine months focused on dealing with the series of disasters in California. But on Sunday, he said the outcome of the presidential race will have such significant implications for California that he said he couldn’t sit on the sidelines.

“The day job’s a little preoccupying. This has been a hell of a year... At the end of the day, I was elected to that job, not this work,” he said. “But this election is too important to walk away from.”