Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, fighting for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are moving ahead with their planned debate to be moderated by Fox News host Sean Hannity, the cable network announced on Monday.
The debate will take place on Hannity’s primetime show on Nov. 30 and last 90 minutes. In a release, Fox News said it will take place “at a location to be determined” in Georgia, a key swing state.
“Decline is a choice and success is attainable. As President, I will lead America's revival,” DeSantis wrote on social media alongside a video framing the showdown as a debate between “revival” and “decline,” the latter referring to California. “I look forward to the opportunity to debate Gavin Newsom over our very different visions for the future of our country.”
The Florida governor has repeatedly lambasted California, pointing to the number of residents who have moved out of the state in recent years and the new residents Florida has attracted during the same period.
“No governor in California history has ever witnessed population loss at all on net. And… it's because of the policies that he's driving people away,” DeSantis said on Newsmax earlier on Monday, before Fox News’ announcement. “The future for the country, for what the left would want to do, is just double down on the California policies, and so I think it's going to be an important debate.”
Newsom himself has yet to acknowledge the official announcement of the debate, which has been teased for months, but a spokesperson told the New York Times that “we’ve agreed to the debate — provided there is no cheering section, no hype videos or any of the other crutches DeSantis requested.” The California governor made it clear previously he does not want an audience so the pair can stick to the substance of issues and not play to the crowd.
The atypical debate — between a candidate for president and someone in Newsom who is not pursuing the same office — comes as DeSantis and other 2024 GOP hopefuls have been left to duke it out among themselves while the race’s frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, is avoiding the Republican debates. He skipped the first debate, plans to skip the second and has yet to confirm if he will attend the third debate organized by the Republican National Committee in early November.
In the Newsmax interview, DeSantis speculated Newsom is positioning himself to step up for Democrats if Biden can no longer run for reelection in 2024. Newsom has repeatedly denied he is considering a run for his party’s nomination this cycle and has campaigned and fundraised for Biden, who polls show a majority of Democrats wish they had an alternative to.
But in an interview that aired on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Newsom avoided answering the question definitively.
When “60 Minutes” correspondent Cecilia Vega asked if a rambling answer where he tried to pivot back to a discussion about housing and public safety in California was a “yes or a no,” Newsom said “that was a never-ending response to your question" before the interview moved on.
So far only 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, a spiritual leader and author, and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, have launched primary challenges to the president.
Hannity, who will host what Fox News has branded “a red vs. blue state debate,” is a longtime conservative fixture on the right-wing network. During the Trump administration, Hannity was in frequent contact with both the president and his staff through the final days of the term. In 2018, the Washington Post reported that advisers to the then-president had begun referring to the TV host as Trump’s “shadow” chief of staff due to their close relationship.
“I’m looking forward to providing viewers with an informative debate about the everyday issues and governing philosophies that impact the lives of every American,” Hannity said in a statement on Monday.