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There's a Major Issue With the Locations Newsom Has Suggested for Debate With DeSantis

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  August 14, 2023 8:00 PM

Earlier this month, during an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity," Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signaled a willingness to debate Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA). As a POLITICO report from Monday morning revealed, the debate details have come to a sort of impasse as the two governors are "stalling" over certain details, from live audiences to locations.

Newsom has recommended locations for the debate such as Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina. As Americans for Tax Reform's John Kartch pointed out, though, California law prohibits state travel to Georgia and North Carolina.

California prohibits state travel to nearly half of the states in the country. As of January 1, 2017, after the 2015 passage of AB 1887, "California must take action to avoid supporting or financing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people."

That hasn't stopped Newsom from traveling to states on those lists, including Florida to obsessively critique DeSantis' policies, as well as to Montana, where his in-laws live. 

Further, when it comes to those locations, the POLITICO report details how Newsom wanted to work with President Joe Biden's team:

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As the feud turned even nastier over the summer, Newsom’s team hashed out details with Fox News. On July 28, they sent Hannity a three-page debate proposal that, among other terms, suggested locations in Georgia, Nevada or North Carolina and a date of Nov. 8 or Nov. 10. Those proposed dates came after Newsom’s team gave a heads up to Biden’s advisers, who expressed a preference for scheduling the DeSantis event after the start of the GOP’s presidential primary debates, according to another person familiar with the Biden campaign’s thinking.

The November 8 or 10 date would be just about two months before the Iowa Caucus, where DeSantis is coming in at a distant second behind former and potentially future President Donald Trump. As the POLITICO report also mentions:

But there are broader differences in the calculations of each governor’s camp, not the least of which is where exactly DeSantis might stand in the Republican primary come the second week of November, when the Newsom debate is planned. National and early state polls show DeSantis trailing far behind Trump. And since agreeing to the Newsom debate, DeSantis’ campaign has undergone another big reset that included bringing in a new campaign manager and continuing to tweak his media approach.

While Newsom insists he is not running for president in 2024, that hasn't stopped the speculation that he is, especially since chatter is increasing that Biden may not be the nominee after all. Even if Biden is the nominee and is reelected, Newsom might be aiming for a spot in his administration, and perhaps his blessing and support to run in the future.

Biden recently visited California and met with Newsom in late June, which is again when Newsom slammed DeSantis and insisted he's not running for president. 

Regardless as to Newsom and DeSantis' presidential ambitions for 2024, the two governors have been at a back-and-forth about the successes and failures in each other's states, both which are among the most populated in the country.

California saw a loss in population for the first time in its history under Newsom, though the governor tried to downplay the matter in a Fox News interview, since other states also saw such a loss. Florida, meanwhile, saw a record amount of visitors in 2022, in addition to being the fastest-growing state in 2022, according to Census Bureau estimates. 

DeSantis, too, has traveled to California, including to San Francisco, where he spoke to the horrors he came across in the "once great city."