Ahead of their highly anticipated debate next week, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) called out Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) for running a presidential shadow campaign, warning Republicans to be wary of the Democrat in 2024.
"He is running a shadow campaign. Even people in his own party are saying that,” DeSantis said on Fox News. “A lot of Democrats want to move Biden out.”
TALKING TURKEY: WHY THE COST OF THE HOLIDAY DINNER HAS RISEN SO MUCH IN RECENT YEARS
DeSantis launched attacks against Newsom he has used before, blaming the Democratic governor for a “mass exodus” out of California and cautioning Republicans that Newsom wants to lead the country under his state’s policies.
"I think what he's done in California, Gov. Newsom, causing a mass exodus out of the state — you've really seen cities collapse there,” DeSantis said. “That is what he would want to do for this entire country, and it would accelerate the collapse we've seen under Joe Biden. So, the stakes are really high for America.”
DeSantis and fellow Republicans have frequently attacked California over its left-leaning policies, connecting Newsom’s leadership to a decline in the state’s population. DeSantis said, “People are flooding into Florida because we've stood for freedom and prosperity.”
“They're leaving California because they can't even keep the streets safe unless President Xi Jinping from China comes. Then they clean everything up,” DeSantis said, adding that otherwise, “people live in squalor.”
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, more Floridians moved to California than vice versa as recently as 2021, based on the numbers per capita. Jennifer Lynne Van Hook, director of the Population Research Institute at Penn State University, provided PolitiFact with an analysis of 2021 data, the most recently released state-by-state migration numbers, and found that 1.16 per 1,000 Floridians moved to California in 2021 and 0.96 Californians moved to Florida the same year.
When looking at the overall migration flow from 2021 data, 37,464 people from California moved to Florida, and 24,692 people from Florida moved to California in 2021.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
DeSantis’s debate against Newsom will air on Fox News on Nov. 30 in Alpharetta, Georgia. Anticipated topics of discussion include the governors' different policies on abortion, the border and immigration, the economy under President Joe Biden, and the overall condition of their respective states.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Newsom's team for comment.