California Governor Gavin Newsom joked about the process that named Vice President Kamala Harris the Democratic presidential nominee, saying in an interview published Friday that he was told to say it was an open and inclusive process.
President Biden’s announcement last month that he was ending his re-election campaign for a second term in the White House led to Harris replacing him at the top of the list of candidates. Since then, she has enjoyed a surge in the polls and fundraising but never received a vote as the Democratic Party quickly embraced her as a front-runner.
Critics of the Democratic Party have suggested that Harris was nominated without the true will of the voters, but Newsom apparently found the process humorous.
“We went through a very open process, a very inclusive process. It was bottom-up, I don’t know if you know. That’s what I’m supposed to say,” Newsom said with a laugh during a conversation with “Pod Save America” released Friday.
33 DAYS: Vice President Harris refuses to announce policy positions or give press conferences or interviews
California Governor Gavin Newsom joked about the process that named Vice President Kamala Harris the Democratic presidential nominee. (Getty Images)
Newsom then joked that Democrats held a 30-minute conference on July 21 between Biden’s tweets announcing his withdrawal from the race and those endorsing Harris.
“It was unbelievable,” joked Newsom, who is widely said to have future White House ambitions himself.
Democrats like Nancy Pelosi have claimed the nomination was not staged in Harris’ favor after Biden dropped out
The clip sparked criticism when it made the rounds on social media on Friday.
“The Democracy Party is sitting around laughing loudly at how undemocratic, electoral and secretive their process was to select and then impose the new Democratic presidential candidate on the country,” responded journalist Glenn Greenwald.
“Masculinity is up for vote”: Competing ideas of manhood in America are at the heart of the duel between Trump and Harris
Another critic added: “Gavin Newsom knows that the Harris nomination was a top-down coup, and they are all cynical about it. Is this the ‘democracy’ they want to save? What a sick joke at the expense of their own supporters and this country.”
Dumisani Washington, CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, wrote: “The party that always screams about DEI and white privilege likes to use DEI to flaunt their white privilege. Isn’t it fun to screw over voters?”
Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday evening.
Biden secured his party’s nomination in March against minimal opposition, but everything changed after his disastrous performance at the June debate. Media allies and fellow Democrats who had defended his mental fitness and suitability for office changed their minds and urged him to drop out of the race. And although he initially claimed that only God could get him out, he eventually gave in to pressure and resigned.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
