As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis prepares for Wednesday’s second Republican presidential debate, his campaign confirmed Monday that a long-discussed debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been scheduled for Nov. 30.
The two governors have repeatedly used each other as foils on issues such as guns, abortion, immigration and the economy.
Fox News host Sean Hannity will moderate the 90-minute debate in Georgia, with the event airing on Hannity’s 9 p.m. television show.
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This will mark the first time the two prominent governors will face off in a debate.
Hannity first raised the prospect of a debate with Governor Newsom during his exclusive sit-down this past June, following which, Governor DeSantis officially signed on to participate in July.
During an interview with Sean Hannity in August, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis agreed to a debate with California Governor Gavin Newsom on FOX News Channel on a mutually agreed upon date to be determined.
In commenting on the announcement, Hannity said, “I’m looking forward to providing viewers with an informative debate about the everyday issues and governing philosophies that impact the lives of every American.”
“All right. You might remember earlier this year, I interviewed California Governor Gavin Newsom not that long ago. I floated the idea of a policy-based debate, you know, red versus blue — red state versus blue state — between Gavin Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis,” said Fox News host Sean Hannity.
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“All right. You heard Gavin make the offer. Your answer is?” asked Hannity.
“Absolutely, I’m game. Let’s get it done. Just tell me when and where. We’ll do it,” replied DeSantis.
“And here’s the thing, Sean, I mean, in one respect, the debate between California and Florida, you know, has already been had, as you suggest, people have been voting on that. They have been voting on it with their feet. They have fled California in record numbers,” added Desantis.
“Florida has been the number one state for net in-migration. We have the number one ranked economy. Number one now in education. Crime rate at a 50-year low. In another sense, this is the debate for the future of our country because you have people like Joe Biden, they would love to see the Californication of the United States. Biden may not even be the nominee. You could have Gavin Newsom. You could have Kamala Harris. And I think if we go down that direction, that’s going to accelerate American decline. We can’t see America decline anymore. We need to reverse American decline,” DeSantis concluded.
DeSantis and other Republican presidential candidates will debate Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
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