California Gov. Gavin Newsom is apparently ruffling some feathers in the White House, according to a new NBC News report. Sources close to the administration say that Newsom’s highly publicized plan to debate presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being viewed as a “disrespectful” spectacle that could take attention away from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s a sore subject considering most Democrats say they’d prefer someone other than Biden at the top of the party’s ticket. But Harris’ camp is particularly irked, seeing Newsom’s debate with DeSantis as a way to position himself at the top of the 2028 presidential primary—at her expense. But some Biden advisers see the potential gains of the Newsom/DeSantis debate. “Governor Newsom is a strong partner and surrogate for the Biden-Harris campaign,” Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Biden’s re-election campaign, told NBC. “We coordinate closely on campaigning, whether it’s fundraising or media. When he brought the debate idea to us, we endorsed it.”
