California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday used Independence Day to urge Floridians to move to California, attempting to present the blue Golden State as the true bastion of “freedom.”
“It’s Independence Day. So let’s talk about what’s going on in America,” Newsom said before addressing Floridians, claiming that “freedom is under attack” in the Sunshine State.
“They’re banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors,” he claimed.
“I urge all of you living in Florida to join the fight or join us in California, but we still believe in freedom: Freedom of speech, freedom to choose, freedom from hate, and the freedom to love.”
“Don’t let them take your freedom,” he added.
Newsom’s plea follows Gov. DeSantis and the Republican legislature moving the Sunshine State into the spotlight over the last two years after consistently standing up for freedom in a world of mandates, restrictions, and forced woke indoctrination.
While California remained masked up and under restrictions and rules, DeSantis reopened the Sunshine State, allowing children to go back to school and fighting intrusive mask rules and vaccine mandates with science-based governing.
As Breitbart News detailed:
DeSantis’s freedom-centric move proved to be right, following the true science showing the inefficacy of forced masking (Florida, which never had a statewide mask mandate in place, routinely reported fewer new cases of the virus than pro-lockdown blue states) and challenging the mainstream narrative. Many states eventually followed in Florida’s footsteps, but even when they were reopening, many local and state officials attempted to force vaccines on individuals, forcing them to make a choice between getting the shot and keeping their job.
DeSantis took no part in that as his administration fought vigorously for medical freedom, signing legislation in November 2021 designed to protect Floridians from losing their jobs over vaccine mandates. At the time, it was described as the “strongest piece of legislation that’s been enacted anywhere in the country in this regard.”
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While the actions taken throughout the pandemic thrust the governor to the national spotlight, DeSantis’s work has not ended there. He has continued to make national headlines for actions taken beyond reopening his state throughout the pandemic. The conservative firebrand’s frequent press conferences have become a fan-favorite of Floridians, as the governor refuses to shy away from speaking truths and tackling issues that far too many political hopefuls lose the gumption to do once they actually take office. That has not been the Florida governor’s style, and he is showing no signs of stopping.
“We believe in education, not indoctrination,” DeSantis said at the time, making it clear that they are “not going to allow teach[ing] that a person simply by virtue of his or her race, color, national origin or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.”
And on July 1, Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill went into law, which bars classroom discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade.
What is more, most Americans say they agree with anti-groomer policies such as Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill.
Ultimately, while Newsom implies that Florida’s policies are unpopular, the numbers show otherwise, as “the free state of Florida” saw the highest level of domestic visitation in the state’s history last year. Further, Republicans now outnumber Democrats in voter registration in the state by 175,911, according to May 31, 2022, Florida Division of Elections data. For comparison, at the start of the pandemic in 2020, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the state by nearly 100,000 voters– 97,215.