Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday released a campaign video that took him to the streets of San Francisco to use the city’s homelessness problem to smear California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).
The one-minute spot shows DeSantis in San Francisco after a visit during which the Republican presidential candidate said he saw people using heroin, smoking “crack cocaine” and “defeating on the streets.”
“The city isn’t alive anymore,” says DeSantis. “It’s really collapsed because of left-wing politics, and those politics have caused people to flee that area. They don’t go after criminals like most parts of the country and the destruction is really sad to see.”
“It just shows you that guidelines matter. leadership is important. You’re doing something wrong here,” he adds.
DeSantis also took action against Newsom, saying the troubles in San Francisco are one reason so many people are moving from California to Florida.
DeSantis and Newsom have been at odds for a year, with the California governor running ads in Florida last year denouncing the Republican for his policies, which he says target LGBTQ rights, voting rights and abortion, among other things.
“Republican leaders — they ban books, make voting harder, restrict free speech in classrooms, and even criminalize women and doctors. I urge you all to join the fight or join us in California where we still believe in freedom,” Newsom said in the ad, which aired on Fox News.
For his part, the Florida governor has shown that he sees Newsom and California as worthy opponents for boosting his own national image. With the new video on Newsom’s terrain, which was created during a DeSantis fundraising trip to California, he followed up again.
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DeSantis made donation stops in Sacramento and the Bay Area on Monday. The governor was scheduled to attend fundraisers in San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Newsom said last week he would be debating DeSantis, and DeSantis responded back, telling Newsom to “stop babbling around” about running for president in 2024.
California is the most populous state in the country and also has the estimated largest homeless population in the country.
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