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When California Governor Gavin Newsom faces off against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a televised debate Thursday on Fox News, host Sean Hannity told Newsweek he'll largely stay out of their way.
"I really don't want to be a hall monitor," Hannity said in a 25-minute phone interview. "I'm going to avoid the bells and whistles. We're going to give them plenty of time to talk."
The debate is unusual given that DeSantis and Newsom aren't running against each other for political office anywhere, but also because the audience, by design, will remain largely in the dark as to the format until they see it unfold on air.
Fox News has called it, "DeSantis vs. Newsom: The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate," and said it will take place in Alpharetta, Georgia, without an audience from 9 to 10:30 p.m. during an expanded two-hour version of Hannity's show.
Beyond that, Hannity is tightlipped on the details, citing an agreement with DeSantis and Newsom to remain so.
He also said that presidential politics has little to do with it, even though DeSantis is a Republican candidate currently well behind Donald Trump in his bid for the 2024 nomination while Newsom is rumored to also have his sights set on the White House, though he's actively supporting a second term for President Joe Biden.
After the debate, "it will be crystal clear that there's a political divide in this country," Hannity said. "I don't even see middle ground here. If you believe in sanctuary cities, for example, how do you reconcile that with people who want border walls? I just want the audience to see these opposing views and come to their own conclusions."
Hannity added that the idea of the two debating each other was first floated last year when he interviewed Newsom at the governor's mansion in California and an agreement in theory was reached in August. There's been a lot of back-and-forth since then, much of which was handled by Hannity personally because, he said, the event is so important to him that he did not want to delegate its negotiations to others.
The New York Times reported in September that Newsom objected to a DeSantis request for a video to air prior to the debate and also to his request that there be a live audience. Hannity declined to confirm or deny any details regarding the negotiations.
In a statement emailed to Newsweek, a DeSantis spokesman indicated the Florida governor's assumption that Newsom might soon be a presidential candidate.
"This will be the first chance for Republicans to contrast our vision for the future of the country with the failed agenda of someone who very well could become the Democrats' nominee," he said.
"A Newsom presidency would accelerate America's decline, and Thursday will be the first chance to expose to a national audience just how dangerous his radical ideology would be for the country."
Newsom did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment.
"I'm not surprised they both agreed. They're no strangers to questions," Hannity said. "They both have the same issues and deal with them entirely differently. I'm not the one debating. I'm asking some obvious questions, and some not-so-obvious questions."
Even though they're not running against each other, the two have been criticizing each other publicly for months. In one example, Newsom's Campaign for Democracy political action committee (PAC) recently purchased ad time during NFL games to slam DeSantis for signing a bill in April that will ban abortions after six weeks, or 15 weeks in the case of rape or incest.
"Many women don't even know they're pregnant at six weeks. That's not freedom. That's Ron DeSantis' Florida," says the ad.
On the other hand, DeSantis has been critical of Newsom's handling of homelessness and crime, and of his more restrictive response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Let's just be clear: California is driving people away with their terrible governance," DeSantis said in July.
It's been a popular refrain for DeSantis, and in September the U.S. Postal Service said that, according to change-of-address data, California lost 101,000 households in 2021 (the most recent year available), making it the top state Americans were leaving. On the flip side, Florida trailed only Texas among states Americans were choosing to relocate to.
According to a Daily Mail/J.L. Partners poll of 1,000 likely voters taken in September that pitted the Sunshine State run by DeSantis against the Golden State under Newsom, 47 percent of Americans would rather live in Florida and 40 percent preferred California, while the rest were undecided. If the two somehow ended up as their party's nominee for president, DeSantis wins 43 percent to 39 percent.
However, in a RealClearPolitics survey of betting odds, Newsom—who's not currently running—appears to have a less-muddled path to the presidency than DeSantis, thus the odds show Trump ahead with a 35.7 percent chance of victory, followed by Biden at 27.7 percent and Newsom at 11.9 percent. DeSantis is at just 3.3 percent, trailing Nikki Haley, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Michelle Obama. The former first lady is also not currently running for president.
"It's at minimum a symbolic debate between the Democratic left and the Republican right," Columbia University political science professor Robert Shapiro said. "What is at stake is increasing the visibility and viability of each of them as presidential candidates."
John Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, doesn't see the debate helping DeSantis much in his effort to win the Republican nomination since he's so far behind, but says the event has its benefits.
"The red model is very different from the blue model, and attentive viewers could learn something about the merits and defects of each," Pitney said.
Hannity is a self-described "proud conservative," though he says that won't translate to a disadvantage for Newsom, whom he has known for decades, though he can't quite recall how they first met.
"We're always cordial, but it's not like we'll get in a room and agree politically. I applaud that he's always willing to sit down with me. We kind of rib each other. He's got a good sense of humor," Hannity told Newsweek.
He added: "I've just started my 28th year at Fox. I gotta tell you, I've never felt so concerned about the direction of the country, or the world. This opportunity for a debate presented itself, and it's the perfect moment in history."
Update, 11/27/2023 at 4:09 p.m. ET: The story was updated to include a response from a DeSantis spokesperson.
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About the writer
Paul Bond has been a journalist for three decades. Prior to joining Newsweek he was with The Hollywood Reporter. He ... Read more