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After much hype, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis finally squared off in a national debate on Fox News moderated by Sean Hannity. Billed on paper as a “Red State vs. Blue State” debate, the forum was clearly a vehicle to benefit the Presidential ambitions of both Newsom and DeSantis.
“The Gavin Newsom that took to this debate stage is the same Gavin Newsom we know all too well here in California: he was smug, arrogant, ignorant, and completely dishonest,” said Carl DeMaio, Chairman of Reform California.
“Instead of answering questions, Newsom stonewalled and offered word-salad non-responsive campaign rhetoric throughout the debate — but he also had the audacity to look straight into the camera and outright lie to the American people,” DeMaio continued.
LIE #1: PEOPLE AREN’T FLEEING CALIFORNIA
At the outset of the debate, Gavin Newsom was asked repeatedly why millions of Californians have fled to other states since he took office — 3.6 million have fled according to Census data.
But Gavin Newsom repeatedly refused to answer the question — and then made the false claim that more people are moving from Florida to California than are moving from California to Florida.
According to the Census data from 2022, 50,701 people moved from California to Florida that year while only 28,557 people moved from Florida to California that same year. Net shift to Florida: 22,144.
Bottomline: Newsom knows 3.6 million people can’t be wrong. They fled the beautiful state of California because its government has gotten so ugly.
LIE #2: NEWSOM SUPPORTS A SECURE BORDER
Gavin Newsom had the audacity to praise Joe Biden’s failed approach to the border which has resulted in record numbers of illegal immigrants crossing every month since Biden took office — including hundreds of individuals on the terror watch list.
Newsom laughably proclaimed himself to be “in favor of border security” when in fact he has denigrated border patrol agents as racists, supported numerous changes in policies to take away their ability to do their jobs, supported a Sanctuary State law for California to ban any cooperation between law enforcement and ICE/border patrol agents, and has continued to increase welfare payments to illegal immigrants to incentivize them to come to the US illegally.
LIE #3: CALIFORNIA PROTECTS PARENTAL RIGHTS
Gavin Newsom falsely claimed that California mandates parental input into curriculum being taught in schools. Perhaps he only values input that agrees with his own views on what should be taught. Newsom has smeared parents who raise concerns on curriculum — calling them racists, bigots, extremists, and homophobes. Newsom has also threatened school districts with massive financial penalties for changing curriculum based on parental input.
LIE #4: CALIFORNIA IS A SAFE STATE — NO CRIME PROBLEMS HERE
Gavin Newsom was confronted on stage during the debate with FBI data showing its crime rate is double that of Florida and exponentially higher per-capita than the US as a whole. Newsom also knows that national crime data shows a slight downward trend while California crime data (both for violent crime and property crime) has been spiking upward since he took office.
Despite this, Gavin Newsom looked straight into a camera and falsely claimed that California has a lower crime rate than Florida (Seriously, the chart was just put in front of the viewers!!).
Newsom then cherry-picked data points to say California crime is going down — stating “we are down from 1990.” By selecting a baseline year with high crime, Newsom is trying to distort the fact that crime has gone UP significantly since he took office and is trending up — in direct opposition to national trends.
The provable fact is California’s current crime wave is a direct result of his disastrous pro-criminal policies like Prop 47 which allows the theft of $950 per store per day without consequence and Prop 57 which allows for the early release of violent criminals.
LIE #5 RONALD REAGAN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CALIFORNIA’S HOMELESS PROBLEM
California has 12% of the nation’s population, but over 50% of its unsheltered homeless population. While other states have seen a double-digit decline in homelessness in the last 10 years, California has seen double-digit increases in homelessness despite spending the most per-capita and per-homeless person on the problem.
In a shocking move, Gavin Newsom had the audacity to look straight into the camera and blame a governor who left office nearly 50 years ago for the problem: Ronald Reagan! Newsom suggested that Reagan released people from hospitals that are now on the streets!
The reality is Newsom signed into law the “Housing First” failed approach to homelessness that prohibits law enforcement and social service providers from enforcing rules against homeless who abuse drugs or have altercations with others due to their mental health problems. Newsom prohibits any funds from going to proven homeless providers who use faith-based or rule-based interventions to break the cycle of dependency.
Newsom — not Reagan — bears complete responsibility for the filth and misery that homelessness has brought to every California city under his time in office.
GAVIN NEWSOM THINKS HE WON THIS DEBATE — HERE’S OUR NEXT MOVE
“Gavin Newsom is running a shadow campaign for president, and this debate was his attempt to vault himself into the national conversation — and America was exposed to his record of failure and lie after lie on that stage,” said DeMaio.
“But Gavin Newsom is surrounded by enablers, political handlers, and California’s liberal media establishment who will tell him he did a great job in the debate and that he is the real winner,” DeMaio warned.
DeMaio says the debate on Fox News is just the first step in a long-term fight to expose Newsom’s failures — and warn America what will happen to the country if they follow the extreme policies being used in California under Gavin Newsom.
That’s why Reform California and Carl DeMaio are leading a campaign to expose and highlight Newsom’s failed policies and corruption — to warn the rest of the country and educate Californians. You can join the campaign at ExposeGavinNewsom.org.
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