“He’s filling a vacuum,” said David Atkins, a Democratic National Committee member from California. “Newsom really understands the current political moment and what the modern Republican Party has become.”…

For now, in taking on Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, his ambitious counterparts in Florida and Texas, Newsom is stoking cross-country rivalries that could benefit all three governors. He has mentioned DeSantis dozens of times over the last few years, while jabbing Abbott somewhat less often. Most recently, Newsom criticized DeSantis on Twitter for refusing to assist with the distribution of federally supplied vaccines for children.

“He tweets all the time about my boss,” said Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for DeSantis who spars frequently with the California governor online. “Newsom seems to be trying to start some kind of feud.”

If so, it’s a two-way affair: DeSantis has blamed liberal voters for turning San Francisco into a “dumpster fire” and said he didn’t want residents from California moving to Florida because “they would continue to vote the same way.”