If Joe Biden, candidate for re-election, were the victim of an impediment, Gavin Newsom would be very willing to take over. At 56, the governor of California is in the starting blocks. If not for the presidential election of 2024, at least for that of 2028, when he will have completed, fortunately coincidence, his second term at the head of the Golden State. Guest of all major political shows, although he denies any ambition for 2024, Gavin Newsom has become in a few months one of the rising stars of a Democratic Party in need of shock fighters.
Thursday, November 30, the non-candidate faces his Florida counterpart, Ron DeSantis, 45, who is very officially running for the White House, but finds himself left behind by Donald Trump in the race for the Republican nomination. The debate, organized in Georgia by Fox News and moderated by Sean Hannity, a big supporter of Donald Trump, is presented by the conservative channel as “the clash of cultures” that divide America. “Red” states (Republicans) versus “blue” states (Democrats), a clash of government models supposed to foreshadow the fight in November 2024.
On the right, Florida, 22 million inhabitants, 54% white, 26% Hispanic, a state long disputed by the two parties but today solidly conservative: no income tax, limited confinement during the Covid-19 epidemic, growth in the first American rank, headquarters of Disneyworld. On the left, California, the equivalent of the fifth largest economy in the world; 39 million people (39% Latinos, 35% Whites, a laboratory of multi-ethnic democracy, first state to have ordered general confinement in March 2020).
Where did this idea of fighting come from? Those involved no longer know it very well themselves, but the duel has already lasted for more than a year. In mid-September 2022, Gavin Newsom exploded when Ron DeSantis sent around a hundred migrants to Martha’s Vineyard (Massachusetts), a popular vacation spot for the liberal elite. The outraged person went so far as to demand prosecutions for “kidnapping”. DeSantis responded with a dig at the Democrat’s always straightened hairstyle: “Its gel interferes with his brain functions”, he mocked. Newsom outbid: “Let’s debate it. I will bring my gel and you your spray. Choose your date. »
Gavin Newsom shows perfect loyalty
The debate in any case adds to the regrets of those who despair about the age of their champions (81 years for Joe Biden, 77 years for Donald Trump). On the Democratic side, suggestions to the outgoing president to pass the torch are becoming less and less discreet. The warning from David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s former strategist – “the impact of miscalculation is too great to ignore” – had the effect of a stab in the back among those close to the former vice-president. But no elected official dared to take the plunge and run in the primaries against Joe Biden, apart from Dean Phillips, obscure representative in Congress from the third district of Minnesota.
You have 60% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.