A brief history of the beef between 2 rising political stars: Ron DeSantis and his California nemesis, Gavin Newsom
- On Thursday, Ron DeSantis dared Gavin Newsom to run for president.
- DeSantis has already stepped up to challenge Trump, the GOP frontrunner.
On Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis threw out a challenge to his Californian counterpart, Gov. Gavin Newsom: Don't be a coward, run in 2024.
DeSantis' dare to Newsom to "stop pussyfooting around" and challenge Biden was a striking rising star-recognizes-rising-star moment — and not the first in their recent history.
DeSantis is running for the 2024 GOP nomination. That puts him up against a wall of faithful MAGA supporters rallying around former President Donald Trump, his onetime mentor and ally.
Newsom, meanwhile, has vehemently and repeatedly denied that he's interested in launching a 2024 bid right now. It would be an uphill battle for Newsom, too, if he were to run in 2024: He'd be running not only against other Democratic hopefuls, but also attempting to dethrone a sitting president.
DeSantis vs. Newsom is a matchup to watch
Newsom and DeSantis have been sparring for months.
In July, DeSantis attacked Newsom after Newsom put up an ad in Florida enticing Floridians to move to California.
"California is driving people away with their terrible governance," DeSantis said. "They are hemorrhaging population. It's almost hard to drive people out of a place like California given their natural advantages, yet they're finding a way to do it."
Newsom, meanwhile, has slammed DeSantis on everything from gay rights to migration across the southern border.
In April, Newsom made several comments on DeSantis.
He told Insider's Kimberly Leonard that he thought his Florida colleague appeared to have an "obsession with just demeaning minorities and women." He added that he thought DeSantis was being over-hyped as a candidate, and that the fights the Florida governor was picking over wokeness and other issues were "un-American."
Newsom told MSNBC in April that he thought DeSantis was better off waiting "a few years" instead of running in 2024.
"I honestly — if I were offering him political advice, I'd tell him to pack up and wait a few years and actually do some of the hard work which actually includes governing, not just identity and cultural work," Newsom said.
Most recently, the two have been tangling over migrants being flown to California — with Newsom floating kidnapping charges for DeSantis, and the latter defending the stunt.
Newsom has been beefing up his base
While DeSantis continues to wrestle with a twice-indicted Trump, Newsom has been working to shore up his platform.
In an interview that aired on Monday night, Newsom sparred with Fox News host Sean Hannity. On Hannity's home turf, Newsom fielded questions about homelessness in California, the economy, and Biden's physical health.
And — at least amongst Twitter's left-leaning pundits — the consensus was that he did well.
"If @JoeBiden wasn't running again for president surely @GavinNewsom would be the best choice for Dems to put forward, especially after his performance on Hannity/Fox last night," MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan tweeted on Tuesday. "Ideology, policy, and identity aside for a moment, the Dems need a fighter. Newsom seems to get that."
"Gavin Newsom humiliated and owned Sean Hannity on his own show on Fox News. This is how you do it," Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko tweeted as well.
"Gavin Newsom went on Fox last night and showed why he would be a very formidable presidential candidate, whenever he decides to run," tweeted liberal Twitter commentator Ron Filipkowski, who's also a Marine and a criminal-defense attorney in Florida.
In the meantime, Newsom's told Hannity that he's down for a three-hour debate with DeSantis — all he needs is "one day's notice with no notes." And if the stars align, that might just happen.
Representatives for DeSantis and Newsom did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.