Both are governors, rising stars and speculated future presidential candidates, building micro-ideological models in their sunny capitals.
In the ever-blue California, Newsom, the son of a state appellate judge, has restarted himself since his inception as a striking progressive hero with quieter legislative impulses. Meanwhile, in reddened Florida, there is DeSantis, the son of a Nielsen box seller, who in public adheres less to his two Ivy League titles than to the anti-elitist and reactionary policy the GOP has consumed. .
Newsom is now airing DeSantis in Florida, saying it is not the first announcement of the 2024 presidential race, not even 2028, with the goal of trying to get Democrats to regain a sense of collective identity. which would allow them to overcome trumpism in the long run.
With $ 105,000 on Fox News, Newsom’s new ad, first provided to CNN and airing on July 4, is a combination of a classic campaign site, a business investment plan, and a those California tourism ads full of celebrities who say it’s better. there, wrapped in the existential terror that is dragging the progressives these days.
“It’s Independence Day, so let’s talk about what’s going on in America,” Newsom says in the ad, standing under the California sun, without laces, while “America the Beautiful” peeks into the background. “Freedom is under attack on your state.”
Those last words flicker across the red screen, followed by a photo of DeSantis shaking hands with former President Donald Trump, and then another of the Florida governor as Newsom advances Florida laws to ban books and restrict voting , speech and access to abortion.
“I ask all of you who live in Florida to join the struggle, or join us in California, where we still believe in freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of choice, freedom of hatred, and freedom to love, ”Newsom says. the images range from an aerial photograph of Santa Monica Pier to a rainbow flag waving in the hands of two women with their arms to each other. “Don’t let them take your freedom.”
The announcement is paid for by Newsom’s re-election campaign, though it’s obviously not about accumulating potential absent voters who have retired to Sunshine State for what is expected to be an easy victory for the California governor in the November.
“He’s running for president,” Newsom told CNN last week. “I care about people. I don’t like people being treated as less than them. I don’t like being told they’re not worthy. I don’t like people being used as pawns. “It’s not just him, he’s the son of the cartel.”
“We are so different,” Newsom told both governors and their states, “like daylight and darkness.”
Throughout a 20-minute phone interview, Newsom said DeSantis was a thug, a fraud, an authoritarian, a fake conservative, a traitor to Ronald Reagan’s legacy, and, on several occasions, “DeSantos”.
“Everyone has parts of the playbook,” Newsom said, comparing DeSantis to other Republicans. “He’s writing it.”
DeSantis turned down an interview request, but those around him say he’s happy to have that fight.
“Gavin Newsom could also ignite a lot of cash in flames,” DeSantis campaign spokesman Dave Abrams said. “He passes the popcorn for his desperate attempt to retrieve the California refugees who fled the infernal hole he created in his state to come to Florida.”
The enmity between the two governors has been increasing for months. DeSantis has said California was letting a “coercive biomedical apparatus” guide its approach to the Covid-19 with a big shutdown, and called San Francisco, a city that led Newsom, a “garbage fire.” Newsom has said that DeSantis’ approach to the pandemic would have killed an additional 40,000 Californians and that he “is not looking for inspiration for this particular governor.”
It’s also a matter of style. When in November 2020, Newsom was caught having gone without a mask to a birthday party at an exclusive Napa Valley restaurant, he apologized with embarrassment. When DeSantis was seen without a mask at the Super Bowl months later, in February 2021, he said, “How the hell can I drink a beer with a mask?” His campaign put the listing on a koozie and sold it online.
DeSantis on the rise
DeSantis’ popularity among Republicans skyrocketed during the pandemic, when he overtook medical experts and pushed Florida back to normalcy months earlier than the rest of the country. DeSantis welcomed the comparisons between the Florida and California laissez-faire approach, where leaders implemented mask mandates and blockades dictated by public health metrics, such as case rates.
Look no further than how each state managed its Mouse House. Disney World, on the outskirts of Orlando, reopened in July 2020, just as Florida became the epicenter of the country’s deadly Covid-19 summer. Disneyland in Anaheim, California, cautiously welcomed visitors about 10 months later, in April 2021.
The big differences in approach became fodder for the two governors.
In a recent meeting with Conservative political commentator Dave Rubin, DeSantis recalled a fundraising trip to California in June 2021 (he has received more donations from residents of the Golden State than from any state other than Florida, and most of them $ 100 or less). . He told staff he would not comply with any Covid-19 restrictions while in the state and recalled an incident that he said showed how it was resonating there.
“These two guys in masks are running towards me,” DeSantis said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, God. Here we go.’ A boy stands right in front of me, takes off his mask, looks me straight in the eye, and says, ‘I wish you were our governor.’
If DeSantis v. Newsom ever moves beyond a party of shouts across the country and toward a real campaign, Florida Republicans believe they have the ultimate winning argument: Florida is a growing state and the population of California is in decline, though there is a long way to go. before the two approach; Florida has more than 21 million residents and California has about 40 million.
“We have a product that works in Florida,” said Christian Ziegler, Florida GOP vice president. “The first way to measure the success of states is the economy, job performance, and people moving to or moving from states. And the state of Florida is winning this battle. They’re losing people. People he runs away from California. And shit. a lot of them come to Florida. ”
But unlike Texas leaders, who delight every time a Silicon Valley company moves into the lone star state, DeSantis has recently urged California CEOs to stay away from Florida. for fear that a progressive wave of tech workers will make up for the GOP sanctuary it is building. When other Florida Republican leaders publicly courted Elon Musk for moving Twitter to the state of the sun, DeSantis stepped back and said, “They enjoy our lowest taxes, but you know, what do they really offer?”
Newsom pulls back
For the California governor, this goes beyond a party of personal resentment or a political backlash as it pushes legislation and demands that move away from the trend to the right of recent Supreme Court rulings. US and further embrace the “Republic of California” on the state flag.
DeSantis isn’t Newsom’s only GOP target. The California governor joined Trump’s social media site just for the sake of trolling the former president and his supporters. He repeatedly beat Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and tweeted a reply to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who said last month that he would be comfortable defending the state’s defunct anti-sodomy law if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses. its 2003 decision to annul the statute.
“One thing. Not to mention during the month of pride,” Newsom wrote. “Hey, corporate America, where are your values? Face those hateful states and come to California.”
Newsom insists he is not looking for President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when he says he is trying to motivate his party to get angry and more active. He described as “master class” the hearings held by the select committee of the House investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, but said Democrats should look beyond Trump and how trumpism is evolving. After spending much of the pandemic watching and reading the right-wing media, Newsom said he has become increasingly alarmed to see how much is taking root.
“My expression is one of frustration, looking now for many years, at many aspects prior to 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 master the narrative … are gaining in an alarming way for me.”
The announcement, he promised, will be the start of much more to come.
“Things have changed, the rules of engagement need to change,” Newsom said. “You have to lead the fight.”