In a cable TV ad that will air soon in Florida, Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling on people living in the state to join California in the fight against what he sees as Republican extremism.
“Freedom is under attack in your state,” Newsom says in the ad. “Your Republican leaders are banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors. I urge all of you living in Florida to join the fight. Or join us in California where we still believe in freedom – freedom of speech, freedom of choice, freedom from hate and freedom to love. Don’t let them take away your freedom.”
Newsom’s re-election campaign paid about $105,000 for space to run the 30-second ad, which will air on Fox News in Florida on July 4. The claims Newsom makes in the ad relate to several recent policies in Florida:
— Earlier this year, the Florida Department of Education rejected 54 math textbooks — 41 percent of the 132 textbooks reviewed by the department — from being included in the state’s K-12 curriculum going forward, saying they covered “prohibited topics” as the “Critical Race Theory.” —Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill last year that adds restrictions on absentee and mail-in voting that many critics say will disenfranchise voters.—The state made national headlines earlier this year for controversial measure known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which bans classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade in the state’s public schools.—The Florida Legislature signed a bill in April that bans abortion in the state after 15 weeks, with no exceptions for rape and incest.
Exactly why Newsom is running ads on cable television in a state some 2,700 miles away is unclear, though many speculate the move is another sign the governor is preparing to run for president in the near future. As we’ve previously reported, Newsom has dramatically escalated his national standing over the past month — so much so that supporters of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris say they’re keeping an eye on him.
Newsom did an interview with The Atlantic earlier this month to talk about the national Democratic Party and conservative legislation on abortion and LGBTQ rights, and in that interview called for the national Democratic Party to be more combative. Those comments came just weeks after he made headlines by publicly calling out the Democratic Party during a press conference.
Newsom also joined Donald Trump’s social media app Truth Social with the stated goal of “calling Republican lies” and spent a lot of time taking shots at national GOP officials — namely DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — on Twitter and on press conferences.
Newsom made an effort to lead the nation on important political issues. After the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Newsom signed a bill that protects people traveling from states with abortion restrictions to California to get the procedure. He also gained a lot of attention last year with the introduction of a bill that would allow private citizens to sue gun manufacturers, a bill that was deliberately modeled after a Texas abortion law.
Editor’s note: This story was updated July 3 at 10:30 a.m. to clarify grade levels affected by Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
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