After months of prodding Democrats to ratchet up their offensive on the GOP, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is “seething” at President Joe Biden for directing friendly fire his way, according to a report.
Over the Labor Day weekend, Biden endorsed pro-union legislation in California akin to a bill Newsom previously vetoed, effectively throwing not-so-subtle shade at him and quietly pitting the two heavyweight Democrats against each other on a fraught labor issue.
“Newsom has been essentially needling the Democratic establishment about their messaging and going on offense with all the stuff he’s done with [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis,” Democratic consultant Steve Maviglio told Politico. “And here was a good chance for Biden to poke him back.”
CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS EYE NEWSOM ATOP A 2024 TICKET IF BIDEN DOESN’T RUN
The legislation in question is California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act, which Biden argued “will give California’s agricultural workers greater opportunity to organize and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.”
However, last year, Newsom vetoed a similar bill, citing “various inconsistencies and procedural issues” with the bill, and he has been mum about whether he will back the Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act.
Biden’s endorsement preempts the Golden State governor’s decision and puts Newsom on his back foot. He is privately fuming as a result, Politico reported, citing five sources.
“Farmworkers worked tirelessly and at great personal risk to keep food on America’s tables during the pandemic. In the state with the largest population of farmworkers, the least we owe them is an easier path to make a free and fair choice to organize a union. I am grateful to California’s elected officials and union leaders for leading the way,” Biden said in the endorsement.
The bill is intended to bolster union membership by giving businesses two options for dealing with unionization. The first is permitting mail-in elections, and the second is allowing a process in which workers vote via a union representation card, per Politico.
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Over recent months, Newsom has sparked presidential speculation with a slew of political maneuverings such as scathing ad campaigns against GOP heavyweights Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. He has also championed liberal-friendly legislation on guns, abortion, healthcare, climate change, and more over recent months, winning points with the Democratic base.
Some analysts surmised Newsom could viably supplant Biden as the 2024 Democratic Party’s presidential standard-bearer — something Newsom flatly said is “not going to happen.”
Much of his attention-grabbing political wheeling and dealing came at a time when Biden was anemic and dramatically underwater in polling, seemingly poised for a midterm shellacking. But now Biden’s political fortunes have turned, and his polling has rebounded a bit following a wave of political victories, while the prophesized red wave has waned.
