Will Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and President Biden campaign for Newsom? 'Stay tuned,' aide says
With California's recall election now just six weeks away, and polls showing the race tightening for Governor Newsom, Democrats are beginning to ramp up their efforts to beat it.
One strategy to energize voters: Bring in big name national politicians such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Vice President Kamala Harris and even President Joe Biden.
"Stay tuned," Nathan Click, an aide to Newsom told ABC7 News when asked who, when and how these surrogates will campaign on Newsom's behalf.
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Vice President Harris recently told the San Francisco Chronicle she will campaign for Newsom ahead of the election.
Click confirmed that saying, "Expect to see her in some form over the next few weeks."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has already been featured in a new "Stop the Republican Recall" campaign ad where she lays out what's at stake for Democrats if Newsom loses. Democrats hope tapping into well-known surrogates will help bridge the enthusiasm gap. Current polling shows voters in favor of the recall are much more likely to vote than Democrats who support Newsom.
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"It's frankly a factor of whether or not Democrats turn out," Click said. "Our campaign's entire focus right now is motivating Democrats. We know if Democrats vote, we win."
According to Click, Newsom's team also plans to stress to voters how easy it is to vote. He said their campaign polling shows an almost 50% jump in people saying they are likely to vote in the recall after they explain to a voter how everybody will get a mail-in-ballot.
While indoor rallies are more unlikely because of the Delta variant, Click said Newsom is also likely to ramp up his in-person campaigning across the state.
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Another challenge for Newsom came Tuesday morning when a new Emerson College/Nexstar poll Latino voters are now supporting the recall by a slim margin.
Christian Arana, the Vice President of policy at the Latino Community Foundation, said he is not surprised by the polling. He pointed out that one in four small business owners in the state are Latino.
"The Latino community has been through a lot over the past year in between the public health crisis with covid, but also the economic consequences resulting from that public health crisis," Arana said. "And so, as we go into this recall a lot of small business owners, especially Latinos, are asking themselves who is to blame here? And some people look at Newsom and blame him for everything."
RELATED: Californians most likely to vote are split almost evenly on whether to recall Newsom, poll finds
Arana said to reach out to Latinos, Newsom's team needs to do more than airing television ads in Spanish.
"The majority of the Latino voting block is young," he said. "A lot of us don't speak Spanish."
Arana said what could help Newsom is an appearance by Sen. Sanders, who won the state's Democratic presidential primary largely because of his support among young Latinos.
Sanders has tweeted out his support of Newsom but has yet to appear in a video or campaign event. Asked if Sanders will make an appearance in the coming weeks, Click suggested an announcement is coming soon.
"Stay tuned," he said. "We love Bernie."
