Ron DeSantis Focuses Campaign Ad on Candidate Who's Not Even Running

Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis dropped a new campaign ad on Monday targeting California Governor Gavin Newsom.

The GOP Florida governor, a former Donald Trump ally, launched his presidential campaign last month at a Twitter Spaces event co-hosted by former Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Newsom, meanwhile, has said he has no plans to run for president in the immediate future, but speculation about a run has intensified because of the Democrat's repeated appearances on the national stage to criticize GOP politicians and policies in other states. Much of the recent criticism has been firmly focused on DeSantis.

This month, Newsom called the Florida governor a "small, pathetic man" while also threatening him with kidnapping charges for purportedly orchestrating flights of migrants from Texas to California. He has also taken on DeSantis over such issues as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as his ongoing war against Disney.

DeSantis defended the flights to California, saying, "I don't think we should have any of this. But if there's a policy to have an open border, then I think the sanctuary jurisdictions should be the ones that have to bear that."

On Monday, the DeSantis War Room account tweeted a new campaign ad compiling sound bites from local news stories involving California's dropping population, concerns about homelessness in the state and rising crime.

"The American people as a whole have voted with their feet, and you compare Florida versus California," DeSantis said in the ad. "We have witnessed a great American exodus from states governed by leftist politicians."

He went on: "This is a result of better governance in states like Florida. It is a result of poor governance in these left-wing states. That's why people are moving."

Political analyst and Dillard University professor Robert Collins told Newsweek on Monday, "The misunderstanding that most of the Republican presidential candidates have is that they think they are running against Joe Biden and the Democrats. They are not. They are running against Donald Trump."

He continued: "The only way to the Republican presidential nomination is through Donald Trump. Right now, all of the attacks on Democrats are a waste of time and money and will have no effect on the Republican primary voters. Unless they start focusing their fire on Donald Trump, their campaigns will be over very quickly."

Newsweek reached out to DeSantis' campaign via email for comment.

A Newsom spokesperson told Newsweek: "DeSantis is weakness masquerading as strength, taking away Floridians' freedoms and calling it 'liberty.' That's why he is tanking in the polls and doesn't even have the courage to accept Governor Newsom's challenge to debate him on Fox News."

Since DeSantis announced his presidential campaign in May, he has criticized Newsom a few times. Last week, he said California's governor should "stop pussyfooting around" and challenge Biden in the 2024 presidential race. DeSantis War Room also tweeted last week about California's population, saying the state is "hemorrhaging residents."

DeSantis War Room has also called out Trump, whom the governor trails by double digits, according to recent polls. Most recently, the War Room account tweeted about the former president celebrating the inclusion of transgender women in his beauty pageant. Also, amid Trump's legal problems, including a federal indictment, DeSantis questioned Biden's Department of Justice and its "zealous" pursuit of Trump over Hillary Clinton or Hunter Biden.

Florida's governor has slammed Biden on his COVID policy as well, most recently saying that "Biden's pick for new CDC czar Mandy Cohen embodies the worst of pandemic policy."

DeSantis also responded to transgender activist Rose Montoya celebrating Pride Month at a White House event, calling it "inappropriate." And the governor recently pushed back on Biden's criticism of Florida's transgender care ban, saying that he will "never back down" from protecting kids.

Update 6/19/2023, 5:15 p.m. ET: This story was updated with a response from a Gavin Newsom spokesperson.