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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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The odds on California Governor Gavin Newsom winning the 2024 presidential election, which he is not currently standing in, improved dramatically with a number of leading bookmakers following Thursday's debate.
During the televised clash with Donald Trump in Atlanta, President Joe Biden on multiple occasions appeared to lose his train of thought, and CNN chief national correspondent John King said his performance sparked "panic" within the Democratic Party.
In response, there were calls for Biden to be replaced as the presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, and former Barack Obama aid Johanna Maska commented: "We cannot do this Democrats. Joe Biden can't put a sentence together. We have to change our candidate, and we have so many good candidates who are sitting on the sidelines."
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On Thursday, before the debate, Newsom's odds of winning the 2024 presidential election were 20/1 (4.8 percent) with both Bet365 and Sky Bet according to betting comparison website Oddschecker. These have since improved significantly and now stand at 5/1 (16.7 percent) and 6/1 (14.3 percent) respectively.
Similarly during this time, Newsom's odds of winning in November went from 20/1 (4.8 percent) to 13/2 (13.3 percent) with Betfair and from 25/1 (3.8 percent) to 7/1 (12.5 percent) with Ladbrokes.
Newsweek approached Governor Newsom's office for comment on Friday outside of usual business hours.
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Newsom was asked immediately after Thursday's debate, which was hosted by CNN, whether he could be the Democratic presidential candidate in November, but he replied: "That's a non sequitur." The governor went on to praise Biden stating he was "very proud of the president."
The odds of Biden winning in November correspondingly slumped after Thursday's debate, from 13/8 (38.1 percent) to 10/3 (23.1 percent) with Bet365 as of 3 a.m. ET on Friday.
Trump's odds of winning with the bookmaker improved from 4/6 (60 percent) to 4/7 (63.6 percent) over the same period. Noticeably Biden lost substantially more than Trump gained, suggesting an increasing number of bet makers believe the White House incumbent will be replaced as the Democratic candidate.
Speaking to Newsweek, Betfair's Sam Rosbottom commented: "Biden's disastrous head-to-head with Trump has seen punters rapidly lose faith that the incumbent president has another five years in him.
"The two men were neck-and-neck back in April, now, despite Trump's varying legal and financial headaches, he has the punters' firm backing to be the next U.S. president."
At one point during Thursday's debate Biden seemed to lose his train of thought while defending his record on immigration, stating: "I've changed it in a way that now, you're in a situation where there are 40 percent fewer people coming across the border illegally, it's better than when [Trump] left office. And I'm going to continue to move it until we get the total ban on...the total initiative relative to what we're going to do with more border patrol and more asylum officers."
A visibly confused Trump responded: "I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either."
A number of online commentators also claimed Biden was speaking with a voice which sounded unusually hoarse and raspy. A Biden aide told Newsweek he was suffering from a cold during the debate.
Other potential Democratic presidential candidates should Biden step aside include vice president Kamala Harris, former first lady Michelle Obama and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, according to Oddschecker.
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