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Talk about a plot twist.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got under Gavin Newsom’s skin on Thursday night when he revealed the California governor’s own father-in-law is among the millions who have fled the blue state in recent years — for the Sunshine State.
“So, I was talking to a fella who had made the move from California to Florida, and he was telling me that Florida is much better governed, safer, better budget, lower taxes, all this stuff, and he’s really happy with the quality of life,” DeSantis said during a Fox News debate with his California counterpart.
“And then he paused, and he said, ‘You know, by the way, I’m Gavin Newsom’s father-in-law.’”
Newsom’s in-laws, Kenneth Siebel Jr. and Judith Siebel, purchased a $3.3 million home in Naples, Fla., in March 2020, according to Fox News.
The Siebels, whose daughter Jennifer has been married to Newsom for 14 years, registered to vote in Florida in June 2020, according to the report.
Around the time of the home purchase, Newsom implemented a statewide shelter-in-place order that would not be lifted until January 2021.
Business capacity limits and other restrictions would remain in place until June 2021. During that period, more than 40,000 California small businesses shut down forever, more than in any other state.
The anecdote drew a sneer from Newsom, who struggled to spin the fact that some 750,000 more Californians have moved out of state than moved in since 2021, while net migration into Florida exceeded 450,000 people during the same period.
“The numbers speak for themselves. We have way more people move into this state than leaving. Gavin can’t say the opposite. More people are leaving California that are moving in,” DeSantis noted.
To further argue his point, DeSantis also unfurled a browned-out map that marks locations where human excrement has been found in San Francisco.
“That is what has happened in one of the previous greatest cities this country has ever had. Human feces is now a fact of life,” DeSantis said.
The poop map wasn’t the only prop DeSantis deployed in the debate.
The Sunshine State governor waved a book titled “Gender Queer,” which DeSantis noted had to have images in it blacked out before being shown to the television audience.
“This is a book that’s in some of the schools in California,” DeSantis said, calling it “pornography” and noting that it has been banned in Florida schools.
“This is not age-appropriate. And so we’re gonna stand for the rights of parents. I think we need to do that nationwide,” the 2024 presidential hopeful added.
In an overt appeal to early primary state voters, DeSantis continued with the theme of parental rights and hammered Newsom for allowing out-of-state minors to obtain gender reassignment surgery and other procedures in California without parental consent.
“If you’re a parent in Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina, your minor child can go to California, without your knowledge or without your consent, and get hormone therapy, puberty blockers and a sex change operation — all without you knowing or consenting,” DeSantis said.
“How in the heck is that honoring parents’ rights?”
Newsom needled DeSantis throughout the debate as well, mocking the governor’s floundering presidential campaign.
“The one thing we have in common is neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024,” Newsom said, continuing to insist that he has no ambition to mount a White House bid this election cycle.
“You’re down 41 points in your own home state!” the California governor said, referencing former President Donald Trump’s seemingly insurmountable polling lead in the Republican Florida primary.
Newsom also heaped praise on the Biden administration throughout the debate.
“I’m proud of the work Biden and Harris have done,” he said, noting at the onset of the forum that he was there to “tell the truth about the Biden-Harris record” and contrast it with DeSantis’ and the GOP’s record.
When asked by debate moderator and Fox News host Sean Hannity if he had concerns about the incumbent president’s advanced age and mental acuity, Newsom quipped, “I will take Joe Biden and 100 versus Ron DeSantis any day of the week, at any age.”
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