Since last September, Gavin Newsom, the bold, proudly liberal governor of California, has been tauntingly difficult Ron DeSantis, the bold, proudly conservative governor of Florida, to a debate. He would even agree, he stated, to let the right-wing Fox Information host Sean Hannity reasonable.
On Wednesday, Mr. DeSantis accepted.
“You heard Gavin make the supply,” Mr. Hannity stated on his present. “Your reply is?”
“Completely,” a smiling Mr. DeSantis replied. “I’m recreation. Let’s get it achieved. Simply inform me when and the place.”
In a letter final week, Mr. Newsom had outlined his proposed phrases: a date of Nov. 8 or 10; a location in Georgia, Nevada or North Carolina; and a spotlight “on the influence of illustration on the state degree.”
Nathan Click on, a spokesman for Mr. Newsom, stated in a press release late Wednesday: “November eighth or tenth. DeSantis ought to put up or shut up. The rest is simply video games.”
Such an occasion would, maybe, be a mutually agreeable proposition for 2 males anticipating as a lot consideration as they’ll get.
Mr. Newsom has made no secret of the truth that he’s fascinated by operating for president, maybe as quickly as 2028. And Mr. DeSantis’s personal presidential marketing campaign is being drowned out by the inescapable presence of former President Donald J. Trump, who led him by greater than 35 share factors in a latest New York Instances/Siena School ballot on the Republican main, and whose three prison indictments have dominated the information for months.
Each Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Newsom have sought to current themselves because the platonic ideally suited of a governor of their social gathering, and their state as a haven.
Mr. DeSantis has moved Florida sharply to the appropriate, signing legal guidelines that ban abortion after six weeks and restrict transgender rights, and promoting his rejection of public well being measures through the pandemic. Mr. Newsom has signed in depth local weather measures, sought to make California a “sanctuary” for abortion entry for folks from out of state and lately referred to as for a constitutional modification to enact gun rules.
Final yr, Mr. Newsom ran ads in Florida telling voters there, “Freedom is below assault in your state.” In June, Mr. DeSantis accused Mr. Newsom of getting a “fixation” on Florida and dared him to announce a primary challenge to President Biden.
From the attitude of the present presidential race, although, Mr. Newsom shouldn’t be precisely the sparring associate Mr. DeSantis would like. The person he truly must defeat to have an opportunity of turning into president — Mr. Trump — is threatening to skip the Republican debate this month.
Shane Goldmacher contributed reporting.
