Lauren C. Moye, FISM News
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California’s Governor Gavin Newsom took new action in his ongoing feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday, suggesting they schedule a debate to satisfy the Sunshine State’s need for attention.
It was the most recent move in an ongoing debate between the men, who are both seen as giants within their respective parties and are potential 2024 presidential contenders.
Hey @GovRonDeSantis, clearly you're struggling, distracted, and busy playing politics with people’s lives. Since you have only one overriding need — attention –let's take this up & debate. I’ll bring my hair gel. You bring your hairspray. Name the time before Election Day. @CNN https://t.co/vTJHQxfArW
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 16, 2022
The tweet references two other recent public statements from DeSantis. On Wednesday, two airplanes carrying roughly fifty immigrants departed from San Antonio, Texas landed at the wealthy Massachusetts vacation island of Martha’s Vineyard. DeSantis claimed responsibility for these airplanes.
He defended the move, saying that he elected to move migrants from Texas because most of the illegal aliens in his state originate from the Lone Star State.
The following day, Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent two buses of immigrants to unload close to Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence in the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.
Democrats responded irately to the move. This includes the White House, which said DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott treated the immigrants as “political pawns’ and “chattel” for a “cruel” political stunt.
“Yesterday, two Republican governors reportedly lured 100 asylum seekers, including children, onto planes and buses with false premises and then abandoned them on the side of a busy road thousands of miles away with nothing,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Paul during Friday’s press briefing.
Newsom, who has previously feuded with both Texas and Florida gubernatorial Republicans, jumped at the chance to attack two of his rivals at once. He petitioned the Department of Justice to investigate both DeSantis and Gov. Greg Abbot (R-Tex.) for kidnapping.
He told U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that the Martha’s Vineyard immigrants “alleged that a recruiter induced them to accept the offer of travel based on false representations that they would be transported to Boston and would receive expedited access to work authorization.”
In response, DeSantis said during a Friday press conference that Newsom’s “hair gel is interfering with his brain function.”
Newsom’s debate challenge was made while retweeting an earlier Aug. post by journalist Dan Rather, who publicly pitched the idea of a Newsom and DeSantis debate to CNN.
Previously, the California governor has paid for billboards in both Texas, Florida, and other Republican-run states to promote his state’s abortion access. He has also invited Florida residents to move to California in a previous run of ads.
Ironically, it was recently revealed that Newsom’s in-laws left California for the Sunshine State. Additionally, they have contributed to DeSantis’s re-election campaign.
On Thursday, DeSantis told the press that Florida “was not a sanctuary city.”
In Florida, we take what is happening at the southern border seriously.
We are not a sanctuary state, and we will gladly facilitate the transport of illegal immigrants to sanctuary jurisdictions. pic.twitter.com/YeEbMzy8yG
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 15, 2022
In April, the Florida government appropriated $12 million for the transport of illegal immigrants to locations outside of the state.