Surprise visit

Newsom makes surprise visit to Florida, unloads on DeSantis

Alec Regimbal

While on his tour of Republican-led states this week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom made a surprise visit to Sarasota, Florida, on Wednesday and took multiple shots at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his attempt to transform the New College of Florida, a small liberal arts school that’s become a culture war battleground. 

Speaking to a group of about two dozen students, faculty and community members at the North Sarasota Public Library, Newsom talked about DeSantis appointing six conservative allies to the college’s board of trustees in January as a way to counter what conservatives perceive as liberal ideology at the school. The new board quickly forced out the school’s president and replaced her with DeSantis’ former education commissioner. In February, the trustees voted to disband the office that handles diversity and inclusion programs at the school. 

“I want you to know you’re not alone, you matter, we care,” Newsom said, according to reporters present.

Newsom kicked off his tour of GOP-controlled states last week on the heels of announcing a new political action committee that seeks to elect Democrats in deep-red areas. His stop in Sarasota, which was added to his itinerary at the last minute following a fundraiser in the state on Saturday, makes sense given the role the school has played in DeSantis' ongoing push to make Florida a conservation bastion. Earlier this year, the Florida governor’s chief of staff told the National Review that the administration hopes to make the school more like Hillsdale College — a private Christian college in Michigan — where DeSantis is scheduled to speak Thursday. 

In his discussion with students, Newsom reportedly mocked the board’s decision to dismantle the college’s Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, saying it must have been a big office to attract so much attention from the trustees. When he was told the office apparently comprised only four employees, Newsom — according to reports — chuckled before saying, “I don’t mean to laugh, but geez.” He also said DeSantis has a “zest for demonization” and highlighted the Florida governor’s role at the forefront of conservative policies in the U.S.

“Fifty years of progress,” Newsom said. “Fifty years on voting rights, on civil rights, LGBTQ rights, abortion rights, contraceptive rights, all of that at threat, state after state, led by your state and your governor with a zest for demonization and othering people.”

In a statement to SFGATE, DeSantis deputy press secretary Jeremy Redfern said, “Governor DeSantis is focused on getting Florida’s public institutions of higher learning refocused on academics and truth. Stunts from political opponents don’t matter and have no effect.”

Newsom’s visit to Sarasota marks the latest episode in the ongoing showdown between the two governors. Newsom has frequently taken shots at DeSantis on social media, and even ran cable ads on Fox News last year attacking the Florida governor on several fronts. DeSantis, meanwhile, ripped into Newsom in a speech he gave at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California last month. Newsom, speaking to reporters after the event in Sarasota, gave his views on DeSantis' aspirations for higher office, saying the Florida governor is going to get “rolled” by former President Donald Trump in the contest to be the Republican nominee for president. 

“Trump’s going to thump him, DeSantis has no chance,” Newsom said. 

DeSantis has not officially announced his bid for the presidency, but is expected to in the coming weeks.