Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said his state has already won the upcoming debate against California Governor Gavin Newsom because "people have voted with their feet."
During an interview with Newsmax, DeSantis was asked if he thought Democrats would swap out President Joe Biden for Newsom in the upcoming presidential election. The Florida governor said he believed that was why Newsom offered to debate.
“I think it’s an important debate for the country," DeSantis said. "Not like saying who’s better, Florida or California, because that debate is over because people have voted with their feet."
Governor DeSantis noted Californians had fled the state to move to Florida, though Floridians had not left for California.
"He has lost massive amounts of population," DeSantis said. "No governor in California history has ever witnessed population loss at all on net."
“The future for the country, for what the left would want to do, is just double down on the California policies,” he continued. “I think it’s going to be an important debate."
DeSantis said he thought Newsom was "definitely angling" for a presidential run, though added Biden wouldn't "willingly" step down.
"I think it’s harder to dislodge somebody who’s an incumbent president than people assume it would be," he said. "But I think the Democrat establishment really, really is concerned, particularly if they have to run against somebody like me."
"I think that their view on Trump is that he will help energize their base to come out in ways that maybe some other Republicans won’t," he added.
DeSantis referenced a new poll conducted by Langer Research Associates and released by ABC showing Trump defeating Biden 51-42 in a rematch.
“If [Trump] ends up being the nominee, [the media] will not be putting polls out like that,” DeSantis said. “It’ll be the opposite ... they use this to juice a narrative. I think people were showing that that poll had Trump beating Biden with under 35 by 20 points."
DeSantis cautioned against believing the poll because "no Republican has ever won that."
“I think they’re trying to do two things. I think the corporate press does want Trump to be the nominee," he continued. "I think you see that in the coverage, I think you see it how they attack me."
"But I also think they’re trying to get the Democrats to dislodge Biden," DeSantis said. "They want to show that Biden is weak, and they would like to see a Newsom or somebody else. So I think when the corporate press is doing this, I think people should take it with a grain of salt.”
DeSantis concluded by saying it was “really embarrassing” to see Biden “floundering on the world stage.”
