by Frank Holmes, reporter
It’s nearly Labor Day, but political fireworks are still exploding inside the Democratic Party.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are so unpopular that they’re about to be upstaged by a Democrat who’s officially not even running for president — and sources close to them have told the press they’re boiling mad.
In what looks like a soft entry into the 2024 presidential race, California Governor Gavin Newsom has agreed to face off against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a public debate.
And his political ambitions have crossed the administration, who accuse him of jumping the line to force himself into the campaign.
“It’s disrespectful!” said an outside adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris. “Joe Biden is running with Kamala Harris. That’s the Democratic ticket.”
An adviser to Biden said he didn’t like the optics, either.
“It could either look one of two ways,” the adviser told NBC News. It could look “like he tried to defend her because she couldn’t defend herself, or that he was being thirsty for attention or to get in the fight.”
Newsom has been elbowing his way into the Democratic presidential chase for months — and he’s got a special grudge against DeSantis, whose state has prospered while California has withered on his watch.
That DeSantis vs Newsom debate is gonna be entertaining. 👀 pic.twitter.com/X1zMi1pkTX
— Florida Grand (@florida_grand) August 23, 2023
This comparison between Florida and NY (thanks to WSJ) is all Gov DeSantis needs to win the economic debate tonight. A similar comparison could be readied if he were to face off with California Gov Newsom in 2024. Don’t know why he hasn’t used this more often. pic.twitter.com/O44crFMNcv
— David Asman (@DavidAsmanfox) August 23, 2023
Newsom challenged DeSantis to a debate last September, and renewed the call during a June appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show in June.
When Hannity asked the Florida governor if he accepted the proposal to have Hannity moderate the proceedings live on Fox News, DeSantis didn’t bat an eye.
“Absolutely, I’m game. Let’s get it done! Just tell me when and where,” DeSantis told Sean Hannity on August 2.
Ron DeSantis just agreed to participate in a two hour debate against Gavin Newsom. pic.twitter.com/s4rdSUDeb7
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 3, 2023
The media went crazy for the idea — especially in California.
“Why Gavin Newsom, Ron DeSantis really need to debate,” wrote a columnist for the Ventura County Star.
The Los Angeles Times went all-out, running numerous stories pushing the two men to crowd Biden and Trump off center stage.
“Newsom-DeSantis debate would be good for voters — and two ambitious politicians,” screamed one L.A. Times headline.
“A Newsom-DeSantis debate would be smash hit — if it happens,” said another.
One columnist compared the DeSantis-Newsom showdown to the 1967 debate between Newsom’s predecessor, Ronald Reagan, against Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Both men would go on to enter the 1968 presidential primaries—tragically, in Kennedy’s case. Kennedy’s son is now challenging Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination.
If Harris doesn’t like it, she can blame herself. DeSantis originally offered to debate Kamala Harris after the vice president trashed—and, DeSantis says, lied about—state educational guidelines on slavery. But Harris shut him down cold.
“I’m here in Florida, and I will tell you there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate,” Kamala told a cheering crowd of fellow Democrats on August 1.
Newsom challenged DeSantis to a debate the very next day on Fox News—and DeSantis accepted the challenge later in the show.
When he accepted, DeSantis not only elevated Newsom over Harris, but he needled the president in the process. “Biden may not even be the nominee. You could have Gavin Newsom. You could have Kamala Harris,” he told Hannity.
It sounds like he got under both top Democrats’ skin.
The Biden adviser told NBC the agreement for a Newsom-DeSantis debate came “at a time when the VP had completely dismissed and won the fight with DeSantis, and I think Gavin gave him a second life.”
To add another level of intrigue, it looks like some members of Biden’s team want Newsom to steal the spotlight from their tragically inept vice president.
Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz called Governor Newsom “a strong partner and surrogate for the Biden-Harris campaign,” who’s doing their bidding.
“We coordinate closely on campaigning, whether it’s fundraising or media. When he brought the debate idea to us, we endorsed it,” said Munoz.
And some Republicans seem uninterested in raising the profile of Newsom, a young and energetic governor, over the doddering, foot-shuffling, octogenarian president.
National Review writer Bill Whalen said the debate would be nothing more than a “Festivus-like airing of grievances.”
“Is this really what America needs, a forum ostensibly meant for a serious policy discussion quite possibly devolving into ad hominem brickbats?” he asked.
It’s definitely not what Kamala Harris wants. Shouldn’t conservatives want to see that?
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”