DeSantis raises money in California and posts it to governor
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, took his campaign to the backyard of his most outspoken Democratic critic on Monday, courting donors at an event near Governor Gavin Newsom’s home from California, weeks after sending two planeloads of migrants to California’s capital.
The $3,300 per board fundraiser organized by a Republican real estate developer at a country club in suburban Sacramento was not open to the press and Mr. DeSantis made no public statement. But the venue itself underscored the tit-for-tat that has been escalating for more than a year between the two governors, who increasingly use each other as political foil.
Florida officials acknowledged this month that the state had orchestrated the abrupt move of some three dozen Hispanic asylum seekers from Texas to Sacramento. Mr. DeSantis, who has been moving migrants, mostly from Texas, into Democratic-led towns and cities for months, has said the initiative aims to equalize the burden of the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
Mr Newsom suggested the moves amounted to “kidnapping” and denounced them as callous political stunts, noting that California also shares part of the Mexican border. An investigation is underway by the California Attorney General’s Office.
Days after the migrants’ flights, Mr. Newsom assertive on Fox News, the conservative network. defending California policy and attacking those of governors like Mr. DeSantis. He told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he “all-in — count on it” for a debate about the problems with Florida’s governor.
Mr. DeSantis later replied at a press conference that Mr. Newsom “stop fussand run for president if he wanted to air their differences on a debate stage.
“Are you going to get in and do it?” he demanded. “Or will you just sit on the sidelines and chirp?”
“So… debate challenge accepted? Or do you also need your notes for that?” Governor of California repliedposting a video of Mr. DeSantis on stage apparently looking at a cheat sheet before taking the “pussyfooting” challenge.
Although Mr. Newsom has said he has “below zero” interest in running for president and has energetically supported President Biden’s re-election, he is widely regarded as a potential contender for the White House after the 2024 election.
DeSantis is considered Donald J. Trump’s main rival for the 2024 Republican nomination, but even as the former president faces a federal indictment, national polls have consistently shown that Mr. DeSantis has several 30 points behind Mr. Trump.
“Look, DeSantis needs to poke Gavin the Bear,” said Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant in California. “He has to keep that fire going – it’s the most important thing that gives him oxygen.”
But, he added, the feud also raises Mr. Newsom’s profile.
“This battle for the cultural direction of the country is spearheaded in many ways by Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom, and it serves their mutual interests,” said Mr. Madrid, who did not attend the fundraiser.
True to form, Mr. DeSantis’ campaign signaled his arrival in California on Monday by tweeting that “the debate has already been settled” and running a new campaign ad describing California as plagued by population loss and homelessness and littered with “needles and feces”.
California’s liberal government is a disaster DeSantis campaign declared.
The action of the governor of Florida, in a county where more than 60 percent of voters supported President Biden in 2020, drew no protesters and filled the small parking lot at the Del Paso Country Club with supporters from the capital’s more conservative neighborhoods.
It was one of many planned stops for Mr. DeSantis in California on Monday, including a second event at the Harris Ranch in Coalinga, Fresno County. It was also one of several visits to California by White House contenders as momentum builds for the 2024 presidential race.
President Biden was in Silicon Valley Monday — with Mr. Newsom — to announce about $600 million in federal funding for climate resilience in a Palo Alto wetland. Mr Biden was also scheduled to appear at two private fundraisers for his re-election campaign.
Other Republican presidential candidates who have dropped out in California in recent days are included Nikki Haleythe former Governor of South Carolina and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and Tim Scota United States Senator from South Carolina.
California is the most populous state in the country, with an economy greater than that of most countriesand candidates from both parties consider it an important source of political funding.
While President Biden overwhelmingly supported the state in 2020, more than six million Californians also voted for Mr. Trump, who received more votes from California than from any other state.