Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) responded to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) this week after the California executive said he would debate DeSantis — telling him to “stop pussyfooting around” and jump into the presidential race.
“I’m all in. Count on it,” Newsom said during an interview with host Sean Hannity, who asked if he would do a two-hour debate with the governor. “Make it three,” Newsom said. “I would do it one day’s notice with no notes. I look forward to that.”
A reporter asked DeSantis about Newsom’s latest challenge during a Thursday press conference in Fort Pierce, Florida.
“You know, it’s interesting. He’s [Newsom’s] got huge problems in his state. I mean, like, huge problems in his state. We all know that. I mean, you see it in San Francisco. You see it in L.A. You see it in the people fleeing. California from its inception, gain population every single year until he became governor,” DeSantis said, identifying the Golden State as once being “the height of opportunity for middle class Americans for many, many decades in this country.”
DeSantis continued:
People were drawn to there and yet, he’s the first governor that’s overseen a massive exodus out of California. And you know, you can kind of understand if somebody comes from Minnesota and moves to Naples, better winters, all this stuff, but if you’re leaving like southern California to move to like Jacksonville — which is a great place — you’re not doing it because of the weather, because they got probably the best weather in the country. You’re doing it because the place is so mismanaged and governed that you just can’t take it anymore.
“Yet with all those problems, he has a real serious fixation on the state of Florida. I mean, I think it’s just bizarre that he does that,” DeSantis continued.
“What I would tell him is, you know what? Stop pussyfooting around,” DeSantis said to applause. “Are you going to throw your hat in the ring and challenge Joe? Are you going to get in and do it or are you just going to sit on the sidelines and chirp?”