US governors in a clinch
Insults, ridicule and a card with feces: This is how the TV duel between DeSantis and Newsom went
Reporters watch the TV duel between Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom at a hotel in Alpharetta, Georgia
© Robin Rayne / Picture Alliance
Governors Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom both want to become US president. One is already applying, the other is waiting for his chance. Now the Republican and the Democrat have fought a remarkable TV duel.
There were two participants who met on Friday night in Alpharetta, Georgia, to argue in front of Fox News cameras, with one goal in mind: the White House. The starting point for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his California counterpart Gavin Newsom when they appeared in the suburb of Atlanta, however, was very different.
DeSantis, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination next year, desperately needs new fuel for his badly sputtering primary campaign engine. He has slipped so far in the polls that his competitor Nikki Haley is now challenging him for second place behind the overwhelming leader Donald Trump.
Newsom, on the other hand, is currently working, without saying it openly, to position himself as the top replacement for US President Joe Biden. Primarily for the 2028 election, but possibly also for next year, the 81-year-old Biden should stumble too much, both figuratively and literally, and therefore not run.
Worlds collide with Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom
DeSantis and Newsom have been arguing from afar for a long time. Dealing with the corona pandemic, uncontrolled migration to the USA, civil rights and the abortion issue are topics where worlds collide between the arch-conservative Floridian and the liberal Californian. In Georgia, the quarrelers have now come face to face for the first time. And there was a lot going on there too.
Newsom set the tone for the debate in his opening statement: “We have one thing in common,” he mocked his opponent, “none of us will be our party’s candidate in 2024.” The 56-year-old thus landed a lead against DeSantis, who has virtually no chance behind Trump in the primary election campaign. At the same time, Newsom made it clear that he was not running a shadow election campaign and was not secretly planning to run for the Democrats in next year’s election, as some observers are rumored. Throughout the duel, he also defended Biden against attacks about his politics and his age.
Newsom was particularly emotional on some topics. He sharply criticized DeSkantis for having done “nothing significant” on the issue of gun safety after the Parkland school massacre that left 17 dead in 2018. Given the 45-year-old’s restrictive policies regarding LGBTQ+ rights and the banning of certain books from Florida’s libraries, the Californian was dismayed and accused his opponent of using “education as a sword for your cultural cleansing.” “I don’t like how you disparage the LGBTQ community,” Newsom said. “I don’t like the way you humiliate people you disagree with. I find that primarily offensive.”
DeSantis unveils map of feces in San Francisco
DeSantis, in turn, attacked his Democratic opponent, particularly on the issues of immigration, the healthcare system and crime. Newsom’s “left-wing policies” have hurt Californian cities like San Francisco. He also pointed out the high gasoline and sales tax rates in California. “This is a slippery, slippery politician whose state is failing,” he insulted Newsom.
2024 presidential election
Six more men and one woman: These Republicans want to move into the White House
To support his criticism, DeSantis even held up a printout and declared, “This is a map of San Francisco. You might be wondering what’s on it. Well, this is an app that has the human feces on it that you on the streets of San Francisco.” The map, which Newsom acknowledged with a laugh, comes from OpenTheBooks.com and shows the reported finds of human feces in the city in San Francisco from 2011 to 2019.
Throughout the event, President Biden’s campaign team sent out video clips of Newsom’s appearance. DeSantis’ team also broadcast a steady stream of its own highlights, just like a traditional presidential debate. However, if you look at the reaction in the US media, there was no real winner of the 90-minute duel, which was held without a live audience. Even if – how could it be otherwise – both opponents claimed victory afterwards.
Sources: “Los Angeles Times”, “San Francisco Chronicle”, “Mediaite”, ABC30, “Politico”, “The Hill”