Ron DeSantis Hits Back at Gavin Newsom: ‘California Is Driving People Away with Their Terrible Governance’

California is “hemorrhaging population,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Friday in response to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) bizarre Fourth of July plea, in which Newsom urged Floridians to leave the Sunshine State for blue California.

“When families are uprooting from the Pacific coast to go almost 3,000 miles in search of a better life, that’s telling you something. Yes, we’ve created a citadel of freedom here that has attracted people, and we’re proud of it,” DeSantis said last week, addressing Newsom’s recent plea to Floridians.

DeSantis said:

But let’s just be clear, California is driving people away with their terrible governance. Some of the best weather in the world in southern California, they have some of the best natural advantages, probably the best natural advantages of any state in this country. And for the entire history of California, they never lost population until this recent governor got into office, and now they’re hemorrhaging population,

DeSantis continued, emphasizing it is “almost hard to drive people out of a place like California, given all their natural advantages.”

“And yet, they’re finding a way to do it,” he added.

His remarks follow Newsom’s Fourth of July plea, in which the Democrat governor attempted to present his state as the truth bastion of “freedom” while spouting a series of falsehoods about actions taken by the DeSantis administration in recent months.

Newsom asserted that “freedom is under attack” in the Sunshine State, attempting to paint a dire picture.

“They’re banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors,” Newsom 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 said:

His plea is ironic, as Americans have flocked to the Sunshine State in record numbers in recent years. In 2021, the state saw the highest level of domestic visitation in history after Americans grew weary of coronavirus restrictions and mandates in blue states. What is more, the number of Republicans is growing, as the Republican Party of Florida recently announced that registered Republican voters now have a 200,000 person advantage over Democrats in the state for the first time in history.