In a recent debate titled "The Great Red State vs. Blue State," Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom and Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis engaged in a heated exchange.
The debate, held in Alpharetta, Georgia, was moderated by Fox News' Sean Hannity and was extended beyond its initial 90-minute duration by mutual agreement of the governors. However, the debate was abruptly concluded following a commercial break, a decision that has sparked controversy.
According to reports from both Politico and NBC News, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Governor Newsom's wife, intervened during the break, leading to the premature end of the debate. These reports, citing DeSantis aides and unaffiliated sources, were confirmed by the DeSantis campaign to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Andrew Romeo, communications director for the DeSantis campaign, stated, "Gavin Newsom got beat so badly last night his wife literally had to throw in the towel for him. It was embarrassing."
Contrarily, Newsom's aides have refuted these claims, arguing that the decision to end the debate was a mutual agreement between staffers from both governors, as reported by Politico and NBC News.
The debate saw the two governors clash over their respective states' policies, primarily focusing on crime, the economy, and various social issues. Governor Newsom dismissed Hannity's data indicating that California's violent crime rate was higher than both the national average and Florida's. Newsom countered, "we're near 50 year lows, down 55% violent crimes in the state of California from the 1990s."
Governor DeSantis retorted, "So this is the slick politician you put up the rates. He has 500 per 100,000. Florida is 250. So thats almost twice as much, and hes trying to spin that to say Californias doing good? People are leaving California in droves, largely because public safety has collapsed."
DeSantis also presented a map of human feces, claiming it represented the city of San Francisco, where Newsom previously served as mayor. Furthermore, DeSantis questioned Newsom's presidential aspirations for 2024, asking, "Why dont you just admit that youre running?"
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