After getting whooped by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a debate late last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom took a swipe at the presidential candidate on Wednesday.
“You know, this guy’s out there scapegoating vulnerable communities. He’s attacking minorities, attacking women, and I don’t like it. And I wanted to push back against it. And I felt like the party was a little timid on all this. I mean, you know, he’s out there talking about anti-woke, and I mean this, for me, it’s not anti-woke. What he really means is anti-black,” he said on TV.
Tacking DeSantis’ upholding of book bans, he said, “He’s out there censoring historic facts, he’s rewriting history. He was out there, you know, he eliminated AP African American Studies. He said slavery was somehow some workforce development program. And he doubled down on that.”
According to the Democratic governor, these were the reasons he decided to take on DeSantis on a right-winged platform.
DeSantis’ campaign reacted to Newsom’s statement, chalking it up to not having anything tangible to say.
“Americans know that DeSantis has succeeded where Newsom has failed. And when Democrats have nothing substantive to say, they default to accusations of ‘racism,’” the DeSantis War Room tweeted on X.
“No wonder why Newsom’s wife had to throw the towel in for him during the Hannity debate,” the post added.
Americans know that DeSantis has succeeded where Newsom has failed. And when Democrats have nothing substantive to say, they default to accusations of "racism."
No wonder why Newsom's wife had to throw the towel in for him during the Hannity debate. https://t.co/3RkN1g2uvY
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) December 14, 2023
The campaign was referring to reports that Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, got the Nov. 30 debate to end after the two candidates agreed to have moderator Sean Hannity extend it after they used up the first 90 minutes.
Per NBC News, Jennifer had entered the room to put a stop to the extension, saying, “We’re done.”
Newsom’s team later claimed that the debate was rigged and that a teleprompter was set up to allow DeSantis see the questions that were going to be asked. There is, however, no evidence backing that claim, and a Fox News spokesperson has denied it.