Florida’s Republican governor and announced presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has accepted California Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s challenge to debate on Fox News, according to multiple national media reports on Thursday.
The conservative online magazine National Review reported that the DeSantis accepted the challenge Wednesday during a live broadcast with Fox host Sean Hannity.
Hannity reminded viewers that “I floated the idea of a policy-based debate, you know, red vs. blue, red state vs. blue state, between Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.”
Moments later, DeSantis appeared on the show and agreed to debate the Golden State’s Democratic governor.
“This is the debate for the future of our country. Because you have people like Joe Biden — they would love to see the Californi-cation of the United States,” said DeSantis.
Newsom later confirmed the debate in an email to supporters, adding “he accepted. We’ll see if he follows through.”
A spokesperson for Newsom told NBC that dates in early November have already been proposed for a 90-minute live debate on Fox moderated by Hannity.
Newsom has repeatedly criticized what he terms “autocratic” governors in Republican states, but has singled out DeSantis over laws targeting LGBTQ people and California’s Walt Disney Co. The California governor is widely believed to have his own presidential ambitions.
