(CALMATTERS) – Mark your calendars: The Newsom-DeSantis debate is finally on, apparently.
Date: Nov. 8 or 10. Place: Nevada, Georgia or North Carolina. Moderator: Sean Hannity of Fox News.
Gavin, California’s Democratic governor who is definitely not running for president (or so he says), and Ron, Florida’s Republican governor who definitely is, have been jabbing each other on Twitter and over the airwaves for months over migrants, schools, culture wars and much else.
In June, in his first interview with Fox News in 13 years, Newsom jumped at the chance to take on DeSantis in person. When Hannity said he would host a two-hour event, Newsom shot back: “Make it three.”
Last week, the Newsom campaign followed up with a formal offer to Hannity. And Wednesday night on Fox, DeSantis accepted: “Absolutely, I’m game. Let’s get it done. Just tell me when and where.”
A Newsom aide, to Politico: “DeSantis should put up or shut up. Anything else is just games.”
Under the rules proposed by the Newsom camp, it would be a 90-minute live debate, but without an audience and without notes for either governor. It would be marketed as a red state vs. blue state policy discussion.
That seems just fine with DeSantis, who said that the California vs. Florida debate is already happening and people have been “voting on it with their feet,” fleeing the Golden State for his.
By the way, DeSantis plans to be in California on Sept. 29, as a keynote speaker at the California Republican Party convention. The party announced Wednesday that he’ll speak several hours after former President Donald Trump, who delivers the lunch keynote and who got a leg up in California’s March presidential primary with some delegate rules changes over the weekend.