After debating for roughly 90 minutes on Fox News Thursday night, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed to go into overtime, but didn’t because Newsom’s wife reportedly intervened to put a stop to it. “We’re done,” she said, according to sources.
DeSantis, who came equipped with visual aids like a “poop map” of San Francisco and illustrations from the obscene children’s book “Genderqueer,” won the debate handily, according to multiple post debate polls.
DeSantis also came equipped with facts and figures to debunk Newsom’s lies.
Before going to a final commercial break, Fox News host Sean Hannity, the moderator, said that while it was time to wrap up, he still had plenty more questions.
“Let’s just do an extended hour. I’m happy to do it,” Newsom said.
Hannity indicated that the debate would continue: “We will take a break. They have agreed to stay. Well, that’s I guess the debate on the fly. We’ll continue on the other side and later have live post-debate coverage.”
But after the break, the debate did not continue. Hannity told the audience that the candidates had to leave for “other commitments.”
Behind the scenes, “the atmosphere was far less jovial,” NBC News reported. According to sources “there were significant disagreements happening” with both teams “arguing that the other side was breaking the rules that were agreed upon in advance.”
According to four sources in the DeSantis camp — one who witnessed the moment in the room and three others who were standing backstage (where there was no press or live studio audience) — Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, came into the debate room on at least two occasions to raise some objections.
She also made her way to the stage during the break after the candidates agreed to extend the debate and put an end to it.
A fifth source on the ground, unaffiliated with either campaign, confirmed that Siebel Newsom ended the debate on her husband’s behalf, saying, “We’re done.”
“Gavin Newsom got beat so badly last night his wife literally had to throw in the towel for him. It was embarrassing,” DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo said.
A Newsom aide denied that Siebel Newsom put a stop to the debate, telling NBC that the decision was mutual.
Newsom told reporters after the debate that they didn’t keep it going longer because “everyone started panicking on both sides” because each candidate “had some place to be.”
Newsom’s team made a number of allegations that Fox News denied, including that “DeSantis had a teleprompter in his line of sight that showed the questions Hannity would be asking, while Newsom did not have the same advantage.”
A Fox News spokesperson said “neither candidate was able to see any of the debate questions, either before or during the debate,” according to NBC.
Siebel Newsom reportedly objected to DeSantis’ mention of her father, who according to the governor, told him he moved from California to Florida because it was better governed.
Newsom’s people also took issue with DeSantis’ use of props, saying that they weren’t supposed to be allowed.
But a Fox spokesperson told NBC News that the “props” were never discussed ahead of the debate, but neither side was allowed to use a multimedia production, which would involve a combination of various forms of media.
Team DeSantis on Friday gleefully shared reports that Newsom’s wife intervened to end the debate.