5 lessons from the DeSantis-Newsom debate
For an hour and a half on Thursday night, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida and Governor Gavin Newsom of California shouted and interrupted each other, trying to leave an impression on Fox News viewers beyond the noise of their brawl.
The debate in Alpharetta, Georgia, was a chance for Mr. DeSantis to take the spotlight without other candidates for the Republican presidential nomination on stage. It was a chance for Mr. Newsom to showcase his easy-going personality and quick wit to a national — and conservative — audience.
Here are five takeaways.
It was DeSantis and Hannity versus Newsom and Biden.
The debate’s moderator, Sean Hannity, wanted the evening to be a showdown between the liberal governor of the nation’s most populous state and the conservative governor of the third-most populous state over starkly different visions of governance.
From the start, Mr. Hannity has pressed Mr. Newsom about his state’s high tax rates, population losses over the past two years and relatively higher crime rates. And Mr. DeSantis backed the moderator in his challenges to the way California is governed.
It was an odd, mismatched conversation as Mr. Newsom, who is not running for president, did his best to focus on the 2024 campaign in which Mr. DeSantis is currently running. Mr. Newsom spoke about President Biden’s record on the economy, health care and immigration and lashed out at Mr. DeSantis’ weak campaign in the face of former President Donald J. Trump’s dominance.
“We have one thing in common: neither of us will be our party’s nominee in 2024,” Mr. Newsom said at the start of the debate, only to follow later with a left hook about Mr. Trump’s lead in Florida. “How are you, Ron?” he sneered. “You’re 41 points behind your own state.”
An exasperated Mr. Hannity at one point asked Mr. Newsom, “Is Joe Biden paying you tonight?” I thought this was state versus state.”
DeSantis was much fiercer than in the Republican debates.
Through three Republican primary debates, Mr. DeSantis has struggled to make an impression on a crowded stage with several nimble campaigners. On Thursday evening another Mr. DeSantis on stage.
He kept Mr. Newsom on his heels for much of the night. With Mr. Hannity’s help, he spoke to Mr. Newsom on topic after topic: crime, immigration, taxes, education.
And he seemed prepared. When Mr. Newsom predictably brought up Mr. DeSantis’s fruitless war with Disney, the Florida governor did not defend his actions but went after his California counterpart over his Covid policies: “You guys inexplicably had Disney over closed for a year,” he said. .
Newsom was determined to take down DeSantis’ 2024 campaign.
If Mr. DeSantis wanted to take the shine off the Golden State, Mr. Newsom seemed determined to bury Mr. DeSantis’s ambitions in the White House. The Californian was firm in dismissing speculation that he was running for president, and was equally firm in saying the Floridian wasn’t going anywhere.
“Joe Biden will be our nominee in a few weeks,” Mr. Newsom said, before adding of Mr. DeSantis: “In a few weeks he will be endorsing Donald Trump.”
It was not a one-time injection. Mr Newsom told his rival on stage that “Donald Trump explained to you” Florida’s initial Covid restrictions. He accused Mr. DeSantis of being far-right in lifting restrictions and allowing tens of thousands of Floridians to die.
Mr. Newsom invoked Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and one of Mr. DeSantis’ competitors for the Republican nomination, when he said the Florida governor was against fracking.
“You were commended by the Sierra Club for that action until you weren’t,” he said.
To close the debate, Newsom continued to hold the knife: “When are you going to drop out and give Nikki Haley a chance to take on Donald Trump?” he asked. “She scolded you.”
Sean Hannity, a neutral moderator? Fuhgeddaboudit.
When the debate began, Mr. Hannity admitted he was a conservative, but stipulated that as moderator he would be fair and impartial.
About an hour later, he began a question with this claim: “Joe Biden has experienced significant cognitive decline.”
Honestly, he wasn’t.
Protests aside, Mr. Hannity didn’t even try to be impartial. Time and time again, he served softballs to Mr. DeSantis while fending off Mr. Newsom’s attempts to defend himself.
And he created a series of well-prepared graphs to show Florida in the best possible light, and California in the worst: on education, crime, tax rates, and population loss and gain. Mr. Newsom tried to refute those graphics, but all Mr. DeSantis had to do was turn to the graphics to say the Californian was a slick spinmeister.
Despite Newsom’s efforts, Biden had a rough night.
The California governor wanted to shine a rosy light on Mr. Biden’s record for a Fox News audience unaccustomed to hearing anything positive about the president.
Inflation fell to 3.2 percent, he noted. Wage growth had topped 4 percent and economic growth last quarter was a blistering 5.2 percent, he said, adding: “Those are facts you don’t hear on Fox News.”
But in a two-on-one battle, those facts probably didn’t get through, especially when both the moderator and Florida’s governor were double-teaming Mr. Newsom over their repeated claims about the president’s cognitive decline. Mr. Newsom did not offer a particularly good defense on the issue, although he did say he would choose Mr. Biden in the White House over Mr. DeSantis at any age at 100.
Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Hannity also worked together on the dangers of an uncontrolled border, and when Mr. Newsom tried to hit Mr. DeSantis for happily taking money from Mr. Biden’s signature achievements, including millions of dollars from the law which he signed To promote a domestic semiconductor industry and revive commercial science, Mr. Hannity has only moved the conversation further.