Newsom vs. DeSantis—It’s On! ‘Red vs. Blue’ Fox News Debate Set for Nov. 30

With the 2024 election still nearly a year away, the Republican candidates for president have already met for three televised debates—each one seeming more pointless than the one before it for one simple reason. The leading Republican candidate and near-certain nominee, Donald Trump, is so far out in front of the field—currently at more than 60 percent according to the FiveThirtyEight.com polling average—that no one else appears to stand a chance.

“The audience-free debate will put a spotlight on the two governors’ leadership approaches in their states and each will make the case to the nation whether red or blue policies are best for the country.”

FOX NEWS DEBATE ANNOUNCEMENT

Trump is so comfortably assured of the nomination that he hasn’t bothered to show up for any of the Republican debates, rendering them politically meaningless. But on Nov. 30, one of the Republicans, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, will show up for a debate against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, an event that has been in the works for over a year but had always looked like a sideshow at best.

By late 2023, however,  the debate has taken on significant political stakes for both governors.

Details of the Newson vs. DeSantis Debate

More than three months after the Newsom and DeSantis camps looked to be on the verge of scrapping the debate when they couldn’t agree on a set of rules—Newsom wanted no live audience, DeSantis wanted a crowd; Newsom wanted to make an opening statement, DeSantis wanted to kick off with a two-minute hype video, etc.—the governors who between them represent almost one of every five Americans (California is the most populous state; Florida the third-most) have a date set for their rhetorical showdown.

The percentage of voters who say they disapprove of Newsom’s performance as governor jumped 10 points, to 49 percent, leaving the governor “underwater” for only the second time since 2020.

According to the Fox News Network, which will air the event, the senate between Newsom, 56, and DeSantis, 45, is set to take place on Thursday, Nov. 30, from Alpharetta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. The debate is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (9 p.m. Pacific) and run for 90 minutes, wrapping up at 7:30 (10:30). The lone moderator will be 61-year-old Sean Hannity, who has held an on-air spot on Fox News since the network’s debut on Oct. 7, 1996.

Billed by Fox as DeSantis vs. Newsom: The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate, the debate—according to Fox—will focus on the differences between, and relative merits of states with conservative Republican governors and legislatures, such as Florida, and those with liberal Democratic administrations and legislative majorities, as California has.

“The audience-free debate will put a spotlight on the two governors’ leadership approaches in their states and each will make the case to the nation whether red or blue policies are best for the country. Hannity will press them on key issues including the economy and inflation, immigration and the border, and crime,” according to a Fox News report.

The debate will also air simultaneously on the Fox News radio network.

Newsom, DeSantis Now Lagging in Polls

DeSantis is running for president. Newsom is not. But that doesn’t mean the California governor has nothing to lose, or gain, by debating his cross-country rival. In a Los Angeles Times poll released Nov. 7, conducted by UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, Newsom’s approval rating in California swooned to 44 percent, down 11 points from the last such poll in February.

A poll by the research firm Cygnal taken Nov. 11-13 showed DeSantis also underwater with Florida voters, who gave him a 50 percent disapproval rating against 47 percent approval.

At the same time the percentage of voters who say they disapprove of Newsom’s performance as governor jumped 10 points, to 49 percent, leaving the governor “underwater” for only the second time since 2020 (his approval dipped slightly below his disapproval, albeit briefly, toward the end of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was still in full force).

The pollster who conducted the survey for UC Berkeley blamed Newsom’s new struggles on his growing visibility as a national political figure rather than as only governor of California. Widespread speculation held that Newsom could oppose incumbent President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination—speculation which Newsom flatly refuted.

But Newsom could also be a candidate for president in 2028—a possibility he has not denied. He would be 61 at the time of the 2028 general election. His rising presidential profile, however, may be working against him in his home state.

Perceived National Ambitions Pose ‘Risk’ for Newsom

“He’s kind of taking on a new persona,” pollster Mark DiCamillo told the Times. “He’s no longer just the governor of California. He’s a spokesperson for the national party and basically voters are being asked to react to that.”

Christian Grose of the University of Southern California Schwarzenegger Institute told the Sacramento Bee that he sees Newsom “taking a risk” by debating DeSantis. 

“He is facing questions about if his focus is on Californians or if his focus is on his national ambitions,” Grose told the paper—adding, however, that Newsom “can score a victory at home with Californians” if he stays positive about California, focusing on the state’s diversity and economic growth.

As for DeSantis, he was once looked upon as the candidate most likely to unseat Trump in the Republican frontrunner’s position. In late January, 2023, he had pulled within eight points of Trump, according to the FiveThirtyEight average. But 11 months later, DeSantis is struggling in his own home state—even though he won a resounding, 19-point victory in his 2020 reelection bid.

A poll by the research firm Cygnal taken Nov. 11-13 showed DeSantis also underwater with Florida voters, who gave him a 50 percent disapproval rating against 47 percent approval. The poll was similar to a Florida Atlantic University poll taken around the same time period. That poll showed DeSantis barely hanging on to a positive net rating, with 50 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval. 

If he can score points against Newsom, the debate may represent a rare chance for DeSantis to improve his standing with voters nationwide, who have a strongly negative opinion of him, according to the FiveThirtyEight polling average. In that polling average, DeSantis is underwater by a whopping 16.1 points, with a 48.5 percent unfavorable rating, compared to just 32.4 percent who view the Florida governor favorably.

The debate will happen about a week after Newsom released a new television ad attacking DeSantis for Florida’s new abortion law which bans women from obtaining abortion services after six weeks of pregnancy, a law signed by DeSantis in April.

According to research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2022, about 20 percent of women are unable to detect that they have become pregnant before that six-week cutoff.