The new version of the East-Coast/West-Coast rivalry has now manifested, but with different characters.

California Governor Gavin Newsom must feel very threatened by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis because he’s spent an inordinate amount of time and money attacking the Republican governor and his state of Florida.

The ads are pretty cringe-worthy to boot, but I digress.

Newsom is apparently attempting to win people back to his state. To be sure, it’s been bleeding residents for years, with hundreds of thousands abandoning California to move to the greener pastures of redder states like Florida and Texas. He’s not making a very good case. His state is over-taxed, over-regulated, and underpowered. Reports about California’s power grid have become fodder for memes.

Apparently, they’ve also become rich soil for jokes from DeSantis himself.

The Republican Florida Governor responded to the attacks from the west coast with some burns that Newsom is going to get some ice for.

For starters, DeSantis pointed out that all the people in California that are so worried about Florida should worry more about the fact that their state can’t even keep the power on.

“Someone told me that once all the people who want to move to Florida move out of [California], then maybe they’ll have adequate power, but I mean, it’s just ridiculous,” said DeSantis to laughs.

DeSantis noted Florida’s main draw which is the respect for freedom and rights of the American people, something Newsom claimed DeSantis was directly attacking. DeSantis also addressed the job situation in Florida.

“We have more people employed in Florida than we did prior to COVID,” said DeSantis.

.@GovRonDeSantis returns fire at @GavinNewsom:

"People chirping about Fla. from Calif. — They're so worried about Fla., they can't even keep the power on in Calif.! … Once all the people that want to move to Florida move out of there, then maybe they'll have adequate power" pic.twitter.com/83PklxaREQ

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 8, 2022

The bottom line is that Florida is doing far better than California is, and has been doing better for some time. DeSantis’s refusal to embrace the unscientific nonsense around COVID and open his state sooner than others was a master-stroke move that elevated his status and made him America’s favorite governor.

It’s clear that Newsom is currently the left’s favorite in the event Biden does not or cannot run in 2024 and, while DeSantis has not announced any intentions for 2024 at all, suspicions are high. Newsom attacking DeSantis is an effort to paint a contrast and make it seem like DeSantis and Newsom are equal rivals.

They aren’t.

DeSantis’s state is successful in almost every sense of the word Newsom’s isn’t. The contest isn’t red governor vs. blue governor, it’s good governor vs bad governor and Newsom is the poster child for bad governors.