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Whoever is responsible for California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s messaging strategy should be fired. But if you’re Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, you probably want that person to stick around — you might even consider sending him a fruit basket.
Newsom’s decision to run an ad positioning California as the antithesis to DeSantis’s Florida is a textbook example of Democrats getting it all wrong.
Floridians don’t want their state to look like California. Why would anyone give up sunny skies and open society for sky-high rent on an apartment that’ll likely get burglarized? Newsom’s ad on California “freedom,” and more broadly his attacks on DeSantis, only rally voters behind the Florida governor.
Newsom’s strategy looks eerily similar to the smear campaigns conducted by Democrats against then-candidate Donald Trump not long ago. What Democrats perceived as insults against Trump were actually compliments in the eyes of Republican voters, and their behavior handed him the GOP’s presidential nomination.
On the flip side, Democratic voters weirdly see Florida as a dystopian state. Newsom’s messaging is a double-edged sword that positions him as the alternative to Biden in 2024 while handing a possible opponent all the talking points they need.
Newsom visited Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to receive an award on behalf of California from the Education Commission of the States. Why any serious education group would give an award to Newsom after his COVID-related school closures is mind-blowing. In the same month that the governor of California required a vast majority of classes to be held online, DeSantis was launching his plan to keep schools open.
Nevertheless, Newsom talked about DeSantis and his press secretary, Christina Pushaw, in his speech at the award ceremony. He decried that Pushaw was not fired for her defense of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill. Someone should remind Newsom that 61% supported the law when presented with the exact text of it.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is another Democrat who may run for his party’s nomination in 2024, and he’s flying to Florida to speak at the Leadership Blue Gala with Florida Democrats. Pritzker’s gubernatorial campaign spokeswoman spoke to Politico about Pritzker’s reason for visiting the state. “Florida is in dire need of a pro-choice, Democratic governor, and Governor Pritzker is proud to support the Florida Democratic Party in their efforts to flip the state blue,” Natalie Edelstein told Shia Kapos, author of Politico’s Illinois Playbook.
DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban into law. A 15-week gestational limit is not controversial and is, in fact, supported by a very large majority. Pritzker’s team is trying to capitalize on the pro-choice activist rage after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and that’s fine. His decision will likely garner support from his target demographic. Yet he joins Newsom in creating a formidable 2024 opponent by attempting to paint DeSantis as a bad guy.
Political miscalculations can vary from having no implications to very serious consequences. In the case of Newsom and Pritzker vs. DeSantis, the Democratic governors are only creating a more viable Republican nominee for 2024. DeSantis is gaining on former President Donald Trump in national polls. Democrats are only accelerating this trend by doing to the governor of Florida what they did to Trump in 2016.
James Sweet is a summer 2022 Washington Examiner fellow.
