SIMI VALLEY, Calif.—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took several jabs at Gov. Gavin Newsom during a speech on March 5 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, stoking an ongoing rivalry between the two.
“Your governor is very concerned about what we’re doing in Florida, so I figured I had to come by,” DeSantis said jokingly to the crowd of more than 1,100.
The light-hearted banter spurs months of public sparring between the popular governors. Newsom, a Democrat, has recently targeted the Florida Republican on a number of policy decisions. Last year, Newsom pledged to donate to DeSantis’s opponent during his reelection campaign and challenged him to a debate.
DeSantis was welcomed by an enthusiastic audience Sunday in the Air Force One Pavilion as he spoke about “Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,” described in his book “The Courage to Be Free,” released Feb. 28. He was joined by his wife and two young children at the event.
During the speech, DeSantis took aim at Democratic “woke” policies that have driven thousands of people to relocate to Florida from California, New York, and other “blue” states controlled by Democrats, he said.
“I think we are drawing people who were very sensitive to the state governments they lived under, and they were coming because they believed in the free state of Florida and they wanted to be a part of the free state of Florida,” he said.
“If you look over the last four years, we’ve witnessed a great American exodus from states governed by leftist politicians imposing leftist ideology and delivering poor results, and you’ve seen massive gains in states like Florida,” he said.
“Florida stood as a refuge of sanity,” he added.
Florida was also one of the first to reopen its schools to in-person learning, when California and Illinois had less than 20 percent open, he said.
DeSantis has enacted a number of education-related laws boosting teacher pay, shortening term limits, and protecting teachers from unions or school districts. He has also supported school choice. The state is also empowering parents to be involved, he said.
“In the state of Florida, we’re proud to stand for education, not indoctrination in our schools,” he said. “We believe the purpose of education is to pursue the truth, and to give students a foundation to think for themselves.”
As governor, DeSantis has rejected legislative reforms passed in other states that put the rights of criminals over public safety and victims’ rights, impose unreasonable burdens on taxpayers to finance wasteful programs, and cater to partisan interests like school unions, he said.
“In Florida, we say it very clearly. We will never ever surrender to the woke mob,” he said. “Our state is where woke goes to die.”
As pessimism increases in the U.S., many people believe the best days of American are behind them, said DeSantis. But in the 1970s, before Reagan was elected governor and then president, people were feeling the same way, he said. Reagan believed the economy would get better, and it did, said DeSantis.
Reagan showed the country that success was attainable and freedom was worth fighting for, he said.
“The last four or five years has shown us just how fragile our freedoms are,” he said. “Our rights come not from the courtesy of the state but the hand of the almighty. We must insist on the restoration of time-tested constitutional principles. It falls to people like us in Florida and the freedom-loving people of California, and all throughout our country.
“We need to win the fight for freedom,” DeSantis said, ending his comments with a nod to Reagan. “And if we do, we’ll be winning one more for the Gipper.”
The 44-year-old Harvard Law School graduate and former federal prosecutor and U.S. Navy JAG officer began his second term as governor of the Sunshine State after serving three terms representing Florida in the House of Representatives. He won his second term as governor with nearly 60 percent of the vote.
The event also drew several protestors who lined both sides of the street leading to the library holding pro-LGBT, anti-fascist, and anti-Christian signs.
One demonstrator, Amber Powell, of Simi Valley, said she heard about the protest on Facebook and decided to attend. She said she does not agree with DeSantis’s views on women and gay rights.
“It seems like he’s taking things backwards,” Powell told The Epoch Times. “It’s not where I think we should go.”
Protestor William G., who declined to provide his last name, of Westlake Village, said he came out to stand up to the governor, who he called an existential threat and more dangerous than former President Donald Trump.
“What Ron DeSantis is trying to do is genocide,” he said. “He’s a corrupt politician with a lot of money and power. The language he is using for trans and gay people is classic genocidal tactics. It’s really scary stuff right now.”
