If something were to happen to Joe Biden, who is running for reelection, Gavin Newsom would be ready and willing to take over. At 56, the governor of California is on the starting blocks – if not for the 2024 presidential election, then at least for 2028, when (in a happy coincidence) he will have completed his second term at the helm of the Golden State. A guest on all the major political talk shows, although he denies any ambitions for 2024, Newsom has, in just a few months, become one of the rising stars of a Democratic Party in need of shock troops.
On Thursday, November 30, the non-candidate faced off against his Florida counterpart, 45-year-old Ron DeSantis, who is very officially running for the White House, but finds himself behind Donald Trump in the race for the Republican nomination. The debate, organized in Georgia by Fox News and moderated by Trump supporter Sean Hannity, was presented by the conservative channel as "the culture clash" that divides America: "red" states (Republicans) versus "blue" states (Democrats), a battle between government models intended to foreshadow that of November 2024.
On the right, Florida, population 22 million, 54% White, 26% Hispanic, a state long fought over by both parties but today solidly conservative: no state income tax, limited lockdowns during the Covid-19 epidemic, growth at the top of the American rankings, home of Disney World. On the left, California, the equivalent of the world's fifth-largest economy: 39 million people (39% Latinos, 35% Whites, a laboratory for multi-ethnic democracy, the first state to order a general lockdown in March 2020).
Where did this idea to fight come from? The parties involved aren't quite sure themselves, but the duel has already been going on for over a year. In mid-September 2022, Newsom exploded when DeSantis shipped a hundred migrants to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, a popular vacation spot for the liberal elite. Outraged, he went so far as to demand prosecution for "kidnapping." DeSantis responded with a dig at the Democrat's perpetually slicked-back hairdo: "His hair gel is interfering with his brain function," he mocked. Newsom quipped: "Let's take this up and debate. I'll bring my hair gel. You bring your hairspray. Name the time."
In any case, the debate is adding to the regrets of those who despair at the age of their champions (81 for Biden, 77 for Trump). On the Democratic side, suggestions for the incumbent president to pass the torch are becoming less and less discreet. The warning from David Axelrod, Barack Obama's former strategist – "the stakes of miscalculation here are too dramatic to ignore" – had the effect of a stab in the back among those close to the former vice president. But no elected official dared take the plunge and run in the primary against Biden, apart from Dean Phillips, a little-known congressman from Minnesota's Third Congressional District.
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