NEWSOM’S LOSING STRATEGY: Denying the Facts Exist

LEFT: Governor Gavin Newsom, Palo Alto, California, June 19, 2023. RIGHT: Governor Ron DeSantis, Fort Myers, Florida, October 5, 2022. (Official White House Photos by Adam Schultz)

In The New York Sun, Larry Kudlow explains that the reason Gov. Ron DeSantis “cleaned the clock of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom,” is because Newsom “chose a losing strategy: He denied that the facts existed.” Kudlow writes:

Spend less, tax less, regulate less, frack more: That’s the red state formula that is crushing blue states, and with those policies, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, cleaned the clock of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, in the red vs. blue debate this week hosted by Sean Hannity of Fox News.

Virtually all the facts were on Mr. DeSantis’s side, and he did a good job defending them. Unfortunately, Mr. Newsom chose a losing strategy: He denied that the facts existed, but those were government facts. Kind of like Mr. Newsom’s hero, President Biden, who is incapable of telling the truth about the economy or virtually everything else.

As a supply-sider, I’m especially interested in the tax story. California has the highest taxes in the country and Florida is one of a handful of red states with a zero income tax. Importantly, talking about red states, they’re all congregating toward low-flat tax rates and zero tax rates, and that’s why their economies are outperforming those of blue states.

Mr. DeSantis could’ve really just made it simple and said, “Well, your top rate of 13 percent is higher than zero and your middle rate of 8-9 percent is higher than zero. And your 6 percent is also higher than zero.” Florida’s unemployment rate is lower than California’s. Florida’s in-migration rate is higher. Florida spends less. Its poverty rate is lower. Its homeless rate is lower. And its gas prices are lower.

Mr. Desantis got it done and Mr. Newsom tried to lie his way through it. Not good. I’ve known Mr. Newsom for years. He’s a personable guy. He’s a smart guy, but he had a very bad night on the debate stage. Too sarcastic, snooty, and swarmy. I’m not saying Mr. DeSantis is Mr. Personality, but he was a whole lot better than Mr. Newsom.

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