Throughout this election cycle, California Governor Gavin Newsom traveled the country campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, stopping in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Hampshire, Georgia, South Carolina, Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Nevada.

He ran his own campaign to raise money for Democrats in red states, became the party’s fighter in conservative television shows and acted as a representative for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

After touring the United States, the Democratic governor will spend the final days of the 2024 elections in a place where he has not campaigned much this year: his home state.

“You can do anything. You can’t do everything,” Newsom said of his effort to balance his campaigning responsibilities nationally and in California during an interview. “I mean, if there was an eighth day, I’d use it.”

Newsom’s appearances this weekend in Orange County highlighted an irony of his strategy: as governor courted donors in Boise, Idaho, and defended Biden in Atlanta, Democrats in California have waged a fierce fight in key congressional races, largely without the state’s most powerful politician at their side.

California has various house races on the battlefield That will help determine which party will control Congress next year. The closest races are in regions of the state where polls show Newsom is most unpopular with voters. The governor’s decision to spend more time campaigning outside of California than in its most competitive districts may actually help his Golden State allies…and his own political career.

“Not only is he working on Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign, but there’s no doubt he’s also working on his own potential presidential campaign, and he doesn’t need to do it in California,” said Matt Rexroad, a Republican strategist. “He knows all those people.”

With two years until term limits force Newsom from the governor’s office, traveling the country for Biden and Harris allowed him to show himself as a seasoned politician and prolific fundraiser while building his list of supporters outside California . The pilgrimages to Republican territory branded the governor as a pugilist capable of taking shots at the Republican Party and former President Trump.

Although Newsom endorsed only a handful of Democrats running for Congress and refused to take an official stance on seven of the 10 measures on the state voteThe governor said he has hit the ground running as California’s top Democrat.

He raised nearly $2 million for eight Democratic candidates in California’s congressional elections, aides said, and has made appearances in several districts throughout the long campaign season.

“We’ve been raising a lot of funds for people in Congress for almost two years,” Newsom said.

On Sunday, Newsom joined a lineup that included Senate candidate Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks and the state’s attorney. Gen. Rob Bonta and several others rallied for Democrat Derek Tran at a United Food and Commercial Workers union hall in Buena Park.

He told the crowd he was there for two main reasons: to thank the volunteers who campaigned and called Democrats and to support Tran in her effort to unseat Republican Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Seal Beach), a contest considered one of the most important. important parliamentary races in the country.

“That’s how important you are to the destiny and the future, not just of this district, but in many ways, the destiny and the future of this country,” Newsom told campaign workers in the room.

Although Newsom was not physically present in Orange County and Palm Springs for most of the election, he became a central figure in some of the races.

Republican incumbents have been linking their Democratic rivals to Newsom in an effort to scare away moderate voters and stoke their base.

In an ad for Republican Rep. Ken Calvert’s campaign in the 41st Congressional District, the governor’s face morphs into that of Calvert’s Democratic opponent, Will Rollins.

“He’s savvy, he loves taxes, and he’s more liberal than Gavin Newsom,” the narrator says as Newsom’s image blends with Rollins’.

The ad claims that Rollins, “like Newsom,” will raise gas prices, property and income taxes for residents of the Riverside County district that stretches from Corona to the Coachella Valley and includes Palm Springs.

“We can’t stop Newsom, but we can stop radical Will Rollins,” the ad says.

Newsom dismissed the ad as “politics,” but Rexroad said the governor’s approval ratings in California swing districts make him an easy obstacle for the Republican Party.

A statewide survey A poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, or PPIC, in October found that a majority of voters disapprove of Newsom’s performance as governor. His ratings were worse in the Central Valley, Orange County, San Diego and the Inland Empire, where about 6 in 10 voters disapprove of him.

Those are the regions where Democrats are working to flip several House seats from the GOP.

“(Republican Rep.) David Valadao would like nothing more than for (Democrat) Rudy Salas and Gavin Newsom to be on the front page of the Bakersfield Californian and every other news there for the rest of the election.” Rexroad said. “The governor is extremely unpopular in the Central Valley.”

Newsom did not appear over the weekend in the Kern County district, where Salas is seeking to unseat Valadao (R-Hanford).

The governor rejected the idea that Democrats were worried about running with him.

“People are looking for all the support they can consistently get and have during this campaign,” he said.

In Orange County, Republicans seized on Newsom’s appearance days before he appeared with Tran.

In a press release, Steel, Tran’s opponent, highlighted Newsom’s role as a “closer” of his campaign.

“Bringing Newsom to town tells voters everything they need to know about where Derek Tran’s loyalties lie: with the Sacramento team that wants to bring his tax-hike, zero-bail policies to Washington,” Steel said in a statement.

Despite the numbers, former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer said Democratic campaigns are using the governor because they believe he can help. Newsom, he said, is good at “delivering cross-cutting messages.”

“They’re in their last days and they know who they want,” Boxer said of the campaigns. “But I really think he’s an asset everywhere because I think he’s an excellent activist. He is a very intelligent activist. He knows the problems that move people. “I wouldn’t go by approval ratings: no one is off the charts.”

The final days of an election are largely about increasing turnout and less about changing minds or reversing votes, when many voters have already decided on their candidate and turned in their votes.

PPIC pollster Mark Baldassare said it makes sense for congressional campaigns to use Newsom in the final days of the election to get Democrats to the polls.

“I don’t really see much downside risk,” Baldassare said. “I see the advantages of having California’s best-known Democrat, other than Kamala Harris, as a potential motivator for Democrats rather than a motivator for Republicans to go the other way.”

Newsom’s latest appearances in congressional districts give him the opportunity to later say he played a role, however minor, if Democrats win the House. It also limits the potential damage and time Republican campaigns have to take advantage of his visits.

Despite criticism of Newsom’s election priorities and possible motivations, it’s smart for politicians to campaign in a way that boosts others and themselves, said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego.

“Politicians do things for their own interest,” Kousser said. “But successful politicians do things that help them and their allies, and the smartest politicians do those things in very visible ways.”