During an interview that aired on Thursday’s broadcast of FNC’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, responded to critical remarks from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA).
DeSantis accused Newsom of “lashing out” because of his state’s shrinking population. However, he also called on him to get into the Democratic presidential contest and to “stop messing around.”
“What’s with Gavin Newsom?” host Jesse Watters asked.
“Well, you know, I was born and raised in Florida,” DeSantis replied. “I never saw a California license plate in my whole life in Florida. And why would you? Why would people leave a San Diego or Los Angeles and yet since I’ve been governor we’ve seen a huge rush of people moving clear across the country to leave California, leave San Francisco, leave L.A. to come to Florida. Nobody — California had never lost population for its entire history until he became governor. And so I think he sees people leaving. I think he sees that there’s deterioration and I think he’s lashing out.”
“Do you think Newsom is trying to be next in line and jump Kamala Harris?” Watters asked.
“Well, what I’ve told him is stop messing around on the sidelines,” DeSantis responded. “Either do it or not. Like, are you going to take on Joe [Biden]? If so, step into the ring and do it. And so, I think he is kind of maneuvering in the background. But, you know, that would be interesting to see if Biden doesn’t ultimately make it, how that resolves itself.”
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