Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and California Governor Gavin Newsom will debate on Nov. 30 in Georgia.
The event, which will be broadcast by Fox News and hosted by Sean Hannity, will last 90 minutes. The exact location has not yet been determined.
Hannity first floated the idea of the matchup in June when Newsom appeared on his program.
“I’m looking forward to providing viewers with an informative debate about the everyday issues and governing philosophies that impact the lives of every American,” Hannity said in a press release from Fox News.
DeSantis, who is currently seeking the Republican presidential nomination, is trailing the front-runner, former President Donald Trump, in the polls. The Florida governor agreed to the debate in August while appearing on Hannity’s program.
“I’m game. Let’s get it done,” he told the television host. “Just tell me when and where, we’ll do it.”
DeSantis said the Americans have already weighed in on the differences between the two states because they have “been voting on it with their feet.”
“They have fled California in record numbers, Florida has been the number one state for net in-migration,” he said. “We have the number one ranked economy. Number one now in education. Crime rate at a 50-year low.”
DeSantis further argued that the event would be a “debate for the future of our country.”
“Because you have people like Joe Biden, they would love to see the Californication of the United States. Biden may not even be the nominee. You could have Gavin Newsom. You could have Kamala Harris,” he told Hannity. “And I think if we go down that direction, that’s going to accelerate American decline. We can’t see America decline anymore. We need to reverse American decline.”
DeSantis took part in the first Republican debate in August and is set to appear onstage at the party’s second debate on Sept. 27.
Newsom is also reportedly expected to attend the second Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California at the behest of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
“The campaign response builds off the strong and effective plan from the first debate with a clear north star: push back on Republicans’ lies and highlight their extremism at every turn,” the campaign told The Hill on Sept. 22. “Our response will ensure we hold every Republican and their extreme positions accountable.”
“You can expect the Biden campaign and our allies to point out the stark contrast between Bidenomics and the extreme MAGAnomics policies we’ll hear on the debate stage,” the statement continued.
Despite mounting speculation, Newsom has denied rumors that he is planning to run for president in 2024. He told NBC’s Chuck Todd he plans to support Biden next year.
“I think we need to move past this notion that he’s not going to run,” said the Democrat. “I think there’s been so much wallowing in the last few months, and handwringing in this respect. … But we’re gearing up for the campaign. We’re looking forward to it.”
He also told Todd he was aware of reports that the DeSantis debate had irritated advisors to Vice President Kamala Harris but that he hadn’t heard anything directly. He stressed that he and the vice president have an “extraordinarily close working relationship.”
“I wish I knew who that was,” he said. “But I don’t hear it from her … and I’m certainly not hearing it from the White House itself.”
The DeSantis-Newsom debate is scheduled for three weeks after the third Republican debate in Miami.
