DeSantis vs. Newsom: Why will the governors face off in a debate?

This Thursday night, November 30, a debate will take place between the governor of Florida and his counterpart from California: Ron DeSantis vs. Gavin Newsom. The event will take place in Alpharetta, Georgia, and can be followed live on Fox News, the television station broadcasting the encounter with moderator Sean Hannity.

Although the debate represents the “clash of titans” between “The Deep Red State” against “The Deep Blue State”, the truth is that the meeting is something unusual, because DeSantis is in the midst of campaigning to win the Republican Party nomination for the 2024 general election, while Newsom has ruled out such a move for the Democratic Party, leading many to question the motives behind the meeting.

DeSantis vs. Newsom: Why will governors face each other in a debate?

The debate between DeSantis and Newsom comes a year after the California governor publicly challenged his Florida counterpart. This provocation occurred after a series of mutual criticisms of their respective forms of governance.

For his part, Newsom has criticized DeSantis’ immigration policy, especially after he sent two planes full of migrants from the southern border to California. At that time, Newsom threatened DeSantis with investigating him for kidnapping, but the investigation did not proceed since the migrants declared that they had boarded the planes of their own free will and thanked the government of Florida for the transfer.

In addition to his immigration policies, Newsom has also criticized the DeSantis government for its stance on issues such as abortion and other legislation approved on education such as a law dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” For his part, DeSantis has criticized his counterpart for his own immigration policies, as well as his response to the covid-19 pandemic and the evident housing crisis in the state of California.

After several months of publicly mutal criticism, DeSantis agreed to face a debate with Newsom. Since then, the administrations of both governors have been working on the logistics of the event, leading up to tonight, this Thursday, November 30, when Americans will finally witness the faceoff between the two political extremes.