They are both governors, rising stars and soon-to-be presidential candidates, who are building micro-ideological models in their sunny capitals.
In ever-blue California, Newsom, the son of a state appellate judge, has rebooted from his beginnings as a charmingly progressive hero built around quiet legislative pushes. Meanwhile, in reddening Florida, the son of a Nielsen box salesman, is DeSantis, who publicly falls short of his two Ivy League degrees compared to the anti-elitist, reactionary politics that consume the GOP.
Newsom is now going to air against DeSantis in Florida — what he says isn’t the first ad of 2024, or even 2028, the presidential race — asking Democrats to reclaim a sense of collective identity. with the goal of trying. Which could enable them to defeat Trumpism in the long run.
“It’s Independence Day—so let’s talk about what’s happening in America,” Newsom says in the ad, standing in the California sun, as “America the Beautiful” fingers in the background. “Freedom is under attack in your state.”
“I urge all of you living in Florida to join the fight – or join us in California, where we still believe in freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom to choose, freedom from hate and to love. of freedom,” says Newsom. Images range from an aerial shot of the Santa Monica Pier to a rainbow flag with two women waving arms around each other. “Don’t let them take away your freedom.”
The ad is paid for by Newsom’s re-election campaign, though it’s clearly not about racking up potential absentee voters, who retired in November to the Sunshine State hoping for an easy victory for California governor. are gone.
“He’s running for president,” Newsom told CNN last week. “I care about people. I don’t like people being treated less. I don’t like people being told they are not worthy. I used people as political pawns.” Don’t like to go. It’s not just about him, but he’s the poster child of it.”
“We are as different,” Newsom said of both the governors and their states, “as daylight and darkness.”
During a 20-minute phone interview, Newsom called DeSantis a bully, a fraud, an authoritarian, a fake conservative, a betrayer of Ronald Reagan’s legacy, and at times “DeSantos.”
“Everyone has their parts of the playbook,” Newsom said, comparing DeSantis to other Republicans. “He’s writing it.”
DeSantis declined a request for an interview, but those around him say he is happy with the fight.
“Gavin Newsom could set fire to a pile of cash,” said Dave Abrams, a DeSantis campaign spokesman. “Pass the popcorn for your desperate attempt to win back California refugees who fled the hell their state built in order to come to Florida.”
The enmity between the two governors has been going on for months. DeSantis has said California was building a “tremendous biomedical tool” guiding its closed-heavy COVID-19 approach, and he called San Francisco — a city Newsom once led — a “dumpster fire.” Newsom has said that DeSantis’ approach to the pandemic would have killed an additional 40,000 Californians and that he “does not seek inspiration for that particular governor.”
DeSantis is growing
DeSantis’ popularity among Republicans soared during the pandemic, when he overtook medical experts and pushed Florida back to normalcy before the rest of the country. DeSantis welcomed the comparison between Florida’s laissez-faire approach and California, where leaders have implemented mask mandates and lockdowns determined by public health metrics such as case rates.
The huge difference in approach became fodder for both the governors.
In a recent meeting with conservative political commentator Dave Rubin, DeSantis recalled a fundraising trip to California in June 2021 (he received more donations from Golden State residents than any other state other than Florida) , and most of them are $100 or less). He went on to tell employees that he would not abide by any Covid-19 restrictions while in the state and recalled an incident that he said was resonating there.
“These two guys in masks come up to me,” DeSantis said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my god. Here we go.’ A man comes right in front of me, takes off his mask, looks me in the eye and says, ‘I wish you were our governor.'”
If DeSantis vs. Newsom ever moves from a cross-country screaming match to an actual campaign, Republicans in Florida believe they have an eventual victory argument: Florida is a growing state and California’s population is declining, although there is a long way to go before the two reach each other; Florida has over 21 million residents and California has about 40 million.
“We have a working product in Florida,” said Florida GOP vice president Christian Ziegler. “The No. 1 way to measure a states’ success is the economy, job performance, and people moving or moving to states. And the state of Florida is winning that battle. They’re losing people. People are fleeing California. And One hekuva a lot of them are coming to Florida.”
Newsom pushes back
For California’s governor, it becomes more of a personal rancor match, or more of a political angle as he advances laws and lawsuits that deviate from the true trend of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the state’s On the flag carry “Republic of California”.
“Hell of a thing. Not to mention during Pride Month,” Newsom wrote. “Hey, Corporate America – where are your values? Stand up for these disgusting states and come to California.”
“My expression is one of despair, which, seeing for many years, is in many ways predicting the current climate and the current administration,” Newsom said in the interview. “The success of the right to define the terms of the debate, the success of the right to dominate the narrative … they are winning in ways that are dangerous to me.”
Ads, he promised, will be the beginning of many more in the times to come.
“Things have changed, the rules of engagement have to change,” Newsom said. “You have to fight them.”