It’s a battle of the governors as California Gov. Gavin Newsom took shots at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week while visiting the Sunshine State, touting his progressive agenda.
Newsom made his comments while speaking with Insider, saying that the moves made in Florida by the GOP show a lack of care for the state’s citizens.
“Knowing what you’re doing is going to harm people and put their lives at risk and still doing it — that says everything about the character, not just this elected official, and those that are complicit in the legislature here, but of our nation that we allow this,” Newsom said. “It’s our decisions that have allowed this; We are our behaviors.”
Newsom was discussing the recent legislation passed in Florida focused on restricting abortion access, controlling education in state schools, making it easier to get guns, and LGBTQ rights.
The interview was conducted following the school shooting in Tennessee that saw three children and three adults lose their lives. It also came as Newsom launched his new political group, the Campaign for Democracy, a political action committee with the plan to take his progressive beliefs and message to red states across the country.
Florida recently moved forward in passing legislation that implements a six-week abortion ban and sent a bill to DeSantis’ desk that would allow for concealed carry in public spaces without a permit, training, or a background check.
On the other side of the aisle, and the country, Newsom has signed new legislation that further restricts firearm access, as he says the moves from the GOP are “insanity,” and Florida’s approach showing the “light and darkness in terms of the 180-degree difference” between how he has done things in his state.
Newsom has never been a fan of DeSantis, going as far as to run ads in Florida against the governor. Speaking with Insider, he said that the way DeSantis fights is “un-American,” saying that he has an “obsession with just demeaning minorities and women.”
“He’s been selling strength, and yet you see it over and over again: weakness,” Newsom said.
During his interview at the conference for the Democratic Governors Association, Newsom also took aim at other Republican governors, including Arkansas’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who recently signed a bill into law that bans the term “Latinx” from state documents.
“It’s folly — except it’s real, it’s happening,” Newsom said. “There’s this deep zest for demonization, of othering, and belittling.”
Newsom says that this is a common theme with Republican governors, saying they often turn their sights on communities deemed vulnerable.
“One thing they all have in common is an obsession with vulnerable communities, and exploiting vulnerable communities, and exploiting grievance,” Newsom said. “And they have an anger machine that amplifies it, and they’re rewarded for bad behavior, and I find it repugnant.”
The tour from Newsom is being seen as a way for him to bolster his national image, with his final term as California’s governor coming to an end in 2026. While he has maintained his support for President Joe Biden’s reelection bid — once he makes it official — the popular Democrat remains among the top names in the party when discussing potential presidential candidates.
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