The boost embattled California Gov. Gavin Newsom was hoping for from Vice President Kamala Harris will have to wait as the crisis in Afghanistan engulfing the White House puts political activity on hold.
Harris was scheduled to campaign for Newsom Friday in the San Francisco Bay area in a bid to light a fire under apathetic Democratic voters ahead of a Sept. 14 special election that could see him recalled from office. The stop was canceled Thursday after a terrorist attack in Kabul that left 13 American service members and scores of Afghans dead, a move that might have saved Newsom, not to mention the vice president, from some embarrassing headlines.
Had Harris stuck with plans to headline a rally for Newsom on her way back to the United States following a diplomatic swing through Southeast Asia, she would have been peppered with questions about Afghanistan and the appropriateness of politicking amid the deadliest day for the U.S. military in a decade. The vice president’s message, urging California Democrats to show up at the polls and reject the recall, would likely have been completely drowned out.
With Democrats enjoying a whopping 22.4-percentage-point advantage over Republicans among registered voters in California, Harris’s stumping on Newsom’s behalf was shaping up as a key political test of her influence with voters and the power base inside the party. That is because Harris is more than the No. 2-ranking Democrat nationally — she is a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, and senator representing the state in Washington, D.C.
HARRIS RISKS SEEMING TO BE OUT OF THE LOOP WHILE STAYING OUT OF LINE OF FIRE
Nationally and statewide, Harris’s job approval ratings are middling. But in a recent national survey conducted by YouGov, and in a late July poll of California voters conducted by the Berkeley Institute of Government Studies for the Los Angeles Times, the vice president garnered strong numbers (82% and 77%, respectively) from self-identified Democrats.
Those figures suggest Harris is positioned to help Newsom survive a recall or, at the very least, do no harm, especially with Democratic voters’ disinterest in the election looming as a greater threat than the handful of prominent Republicans vying to replace the governor.
The recall ballot features two sections. Part one asks voters to check “yes” or “no” to the question of whether Newsom should be recalled. Part two features a list of replacement candidates. If 50%-plus-one of voters who participate in the election check the “yes” box on part one, the candidate with the most votes on part two would replace Newsom.
