Gavin Newsom awkwardly pivots away from question about Dem successor: ‘Focused on diapers’
Newsom dodges questions about frontrunner Xavier Becerra by pivoting to free diapers, even as Biden-era failures and a chaotic primary loom over California's Democratic succession.
Gavin Newsom refused to engage when asked about Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney general now positioned as the leading candidate to replace him. Instead the governor declared, “I’m focused on diapers,” triggering applause from San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, state Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Johnson, and Sutter Health executives at a Friday event promoting free diapers for new parents.
The moment captured Newsom’s determination to stay above the fray in a race that turned chaotic last month after Eric Swalwell withdrew amid multiple accusations of sexual harassment and rape. Becerra, who served as attorney general during Newsom’s first two years, has gathered endorsements from the governor’s allies despite sharp criticism of his record in the Biden administration. One former Biden staffer told Politico the reaction inside Democratic circles is blunt: “We need to figure out a candidate who can win! But then…him? Really?”
Newsom’s diaper initiative, run through CalRX and partnered with Baby2Baby, will distribute 400 free diapers per family to anyone delivering at a participating hospital starting this summer. The program is an extension of last year’s push for reduced-cost insulin. While the policy targets real costs for parents, the optics of using it to deflect questions about the state’s next leader underscored how thoroughly Newsom intends to avoid the succession battle.
Becerra’s critics point to his oversight of a migrant child crisis in which his department lost contact with 85,000 minors, some later found working in factories and dangerous conditions. His handling of COVID also draws mockery from former colleagues. Yet Democratic power brokers appear to be consolidating behind him. A recent poll showed Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton tied at 20 percent; the top two finishers advance to November.
Newsom later justified his silence by citing “deep consistency” in refusing to discuss the governor’s race and alluded to “prior relationships” as the reason he would not endorse in the primary. He added that he would “do everything that needs to be done to prevent a Democratic lockout.” The careful wording revealed more about the party’s anxiety than confidence in its frontrunner.
What remains is whether California voters will accept a candidate whose liabilities are already being whispered about inside the very administration that once elevated him, or if the party’s machinery will simply steamroll those doubts in the name of preserving power.
Original reporting: New York Post.
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