Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom will take part in a televised 90-minute debate moderated by Fox News' Sean Hannity on Nov. 30, the network announced Monday.
The debate will air on Hannity's namesake show from Georgia, though a specific location in the key battleground state remains "to be determined," Fox News said in a news release.
"I look forward to the opportunity to debate Gavin Newsom over our very different visions for the future of our country," DeSantis said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Andrew Romeo, DeSantis’ campaign spokesman, said in a statement: “The contrast of California’s failures to Florida’s success demonstrates that Ron DeSantis is right: decline is merely a choice.
"Whether Newsom or Biden is the Democrat nominee in ’24, they both offer the same failed and dangerous ideology for America that helped get us in this mess. We look forward to putting Ron DeSantis’ record of success up against it," he continued.
Emphasizing that they “want a real debate — not a circus,” Newsom spokesperson Nathan Click said in a statement, “We’ve agreed to the debate — provided there is no cheering section, no hype videos or any of the other crutches Desantis requested."
The two ideologically opposed governors first agreed to take each other on in early August, but negotiations stalled for weeks over the proposed rules.
DeSantis, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, often takes aim at Newsom on the campaign trail, painting California as a failing liberal antithesis to his home state, Florida.
Three days after he accepted the invitation to debate, DeSantis explained his thinking to a crowd at a campaign event in Grinnell, Iowa.
"One, Biden’s agenda is ultimately just trying to take the California agenda nationally anyways. ... California leftism is kind of how the Democratic Party operates," he said, claiming that "Biden may not be the candidate" and that Newsom may instead become the Democratic nominee.
Newsom is widely talked about as a potential presidential candidate, but he has shrugged off rumors that he would launch a primary challenge against President Joe Biden.
"President Biden is going to run, and we're looking forward to getting him re-elected," Newsom told Chuck Todd in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," emphasizing that Vice President Kamala Harris is "naturally" Biden's successor.
DeSantis is also in California this week for another campaign confrontation: the second GOP primary debate Wednesday from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
