It’s on like Donkey Kong. Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) are scheduled to debate at the end of the month. It’s being called a “Red vs Blue State Debate.”

This event came about due to Newsom’s obsession with DeSantis. Newsom’s jealousy of DeSantis has brought about a debate for which many people question its necessity. Why would DeSantis waste time debating a progressive Democrat now? It seems like a distraction. Hannity took advantage of Newsom’s focus on DeSantis and asked if he would consider a debate with Hannity as moderator on Fox. Newsom is one of the few progressives who will come on FNC. He was eager to say yes and did so. Hannity asked the same question of DeSantis and he agreed, too. I assume this debate gets around the RNC rule against unsanctioned debates since Newsom is a Democrat and allegedly not running for president.

We all know that Newsom is running a shadow campaign for president. Democrats admit it. Biden even attempted to joke about Newsom’s presidential ambitions when he was last in California with him. Newsom is clearly waiting in the wings, ready to jump in if Biden decides to retire. It isn’t going to happen, though, because Joe Biden is too stubborn and his ego is too large for him to abandon the race for a second term in the White House. And, Barack Obama would like a fourth term. All of this serves to increase Newsom’s national profile that he will be able to use in 2028. The same may be said of DeSantis if Trump is the Republican nominee in 2024.

Newsom’s California is full of failure. Taxes are high, cost of living is high, there are too many heavy-handed regulations, and Newsom rules like a power-crazed authoritarian. His management of the COVID-19 pandemic was full of mandates and masks and school closures. The way DeSantis managed the pandemic in Florida was the polar opposite. DeSantis initially closed the state down as the president asked governors to do, but he quickly realized that was a mistake and re-opened the state, allowing its citizens to make their own decisions. Freedom took precedence. Adults were treated as adults and allowed to use their own judgement on wearing a mask or staying home. At the time, Trump criticized him, along with Democrats and their patron saint, Dr. Fauci.

Newsom takes the policy successes of DeSantis and twists them into Democrat tropes. Whether it is book bans that don’t exist or the mislabeled ‘don’t say gay’ law (The Parental Rights in Education Act), Newsom twists like a pretzel to trash DeSantis. Now, in the lead-up to the debate event, Newsom has released a new ad that attacks Florida’s six-week abortion law.

Any woman who has an abortion after six weeks — and any doctor who gives her care — will be guilty of a felony.

Abortion after six weeks will be punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

That’s not freedom.

That’s Ron DeSantis’ Florida. pic.twitter.com/uUgG9ZEMlw

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) November 19, 2023

The Campaign for Democracy PAC is led by Newsom. According to its website, it is being used as a state-by-state organizing campaign for the 2024 election.

Through an aggressive, coordinated and sustained state-by-state organizing campaign through the 2024 election, the Campaign for Democracy’s mission is to confront and defeat unAmerican authoritarianism.

America is in an existential struggle for democracy. Across the country, extremist Republicans are systematically attacking the very foundations of a free society — bullying and criminalizing the most vulnerable, denying women equality and reproductive healthcare, attacking communities of color, dehumanizing immigrants seeking the American Dream, banning books and restricting speech, and undermining the most basic tenet of our democracy, the right to vote.

The Campaign for Democracy was founded to expose and fight rising authoritarianism across the nation. We believe that all patriotic Americans must go on offense in red states as well as blue states, bringing the fight to statehouses, local communities, electoral battlegrounds, and our nation’s capitol to save the great American experiment in democracy.

Democrats successfully used the abortion issue to win elections in the midterm cycle and are counting on doing that again in 2024. Republicans have not yet figured out a way to communicate about abortion that brings voters in, not shoves voters away. Most voters agree with a 15-16 week ban and see 6-week bans as too extreme. Critics are right – many women don’t realize they are pregnant at the six week mark. I speak from experience.

Gavin Newsom has lots of actions he must justify to voters.

Gavin Newsom will probably never be POTUS—but the people of the US need to know the enormous damage he did to a generation of kids by needlessly closing schools in a politically-driven panic that was exacerbated by his fear of the teachers union & his religious belief in masks.😡 https://t.co/huzXRvjtYk

— John Ziegler (@Zigmanfreud) November 20, 2023

Governor DeSantis said, “Decline is a choice and success is attainable.”

Decline is a choice and success is attainable. As President, I will lead America's revival.

I look forward to the opportunity to debate Gavin Newsom over our very different visions for the future of our country. pic.twitter.com/wuh0jRXFdg

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) September 25, 2023

Kenneth Siebel is a registered Republican and Judith Siebel has no party affiliation. They are Gavin Newsom’s in-laws. They moved to Florida during the pandemic. They are supporters of DeSantis. DeSantis told the story to Mark Levin on his radio show in June and the governor believes Newsom is obsessed with him because of that fact.

“I was campaigning for reelection last year, so it was sometime probably in 2020, and I’m doing an event — it was actually a fundraiser — they’re going around the table, and his father-in-law introduced himself, and he said, ‘My son-in-law is the California governor.’ So his in-laws moved to Florida, they are proud Florida residents, and they were supporters of mine,” DeSantis said.

The parents of Newsom’s wife, California first partner Jennifer Siebel, were listed as donors to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC in 2022. The donation was listed as a $5,000 contribution. Fox News reported in September 2022 that Kenneth and Judith Siebel had moved to the Sunshine State from the Golden State, according to records.

It’s a beautiful thing.

California residents are leaving the state in record numbers. Not all are going to Florida but a lot of them are. Others are going to Texas or Montana or other red states. They are voting with their feet against Newsom and the agenda of the California progressives. It is, in fact, a red state vs blue state debate. Both men are articulate and able to speak about policy below the surface. I don’t like what Newsom says but he is a smooth talker and doesn’t hesitate to chime in. DeSantis is a policy wonk, which I enjoy. It should be a good event.