Gov. Gavin Newsom defended the Biden administration and his state in a debate against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
The governors of Florida and California faced off in a one-of-a-kind, heated debate on Thursday night in Georgia, clashing over topics like crime, taxes, abortion, and parental rights.
The questions in the debate moderated by Fox News’ Sean Hannity drew on a number of statistics showing Florida in a favorable light over California. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running in the Republican primary against former President Donald Trump, used the opportunity to hammer home the Republican case against reelecting President Joe Biden.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who some suggest is running a shadow campaign for the presidency, defended the Biden agenda and went blow-for-blow with Mr. DeSantis. While the pair covered a lot of ground, the following topics received a significant amount of attention.
Interstate Migration
Early in the debate Mr. Newsom and Mr. DeSantis sparred over the rate of migration to and from their respective states.
The exchange began after Mr. Hannity asked about the high rates of outmigration from California and some other blue states. Meanwhile, Florida and some other red states have grown.
“He’s the first governor to ever lose population,” Mr. DeSantis said of Mr. Newsom.
“I think California has more natural advantages than any state in the country. You almost have to try to mess California up,” he said.
The California governor claimed that over the last two years, there were “more Floridians going to California than Californians going to Florida.”
“That’s gonna be fun to fact check,” he added.
But U.S. Census data show that more Californians have moved to Florida than vice-versa in 2021 and 2022.
Some fact-checkers have asserted that California’s state executive was referring to migration per capita rather than the raw numbers.
Whatever the case may be, the Fox News-hosted event allowed refugees from the Golden State to say their piece. At a press conference prior to the Thursday night spectacle, seven new Floridians told reporters why they had departed from the Golden State.
By Nathan Worcester and T.J. Muscaro
