Ron DeSantis Taunts Gavin Newsom: California Residents Fleeing to Florida to 'Live Freely'
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis blasted California Governor Gavin Newsom during his speech in the state of the Democratic governor, saying that California residents are fleeing the state to live in Florida so "they can live freely."
DeSantis started his speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on Sunday by joking, "I knew you guys got a lot of problems out here, but your governor is very concerned about what we're doing in Florida, so I figured I had to come by," Fox News reported.
The Republican governor noted that the former president, whom the library was named after, "understood the vital role that government had to play" and how it could be a "negative force if not applied properly."
DeSantis likened Reagan's leadership stance to the way he governed Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He then said there had been a "great American exodus" in some states, particularly those "governed by leftist politicians," and now Florida has been experiencing a "hemorrhaging population" with people wanting to live in other states.
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Ron DeSantis Speech in California
The Republican leader also said that families move from Pacific Coast to Florida for the reason the Sunshine State had schools open "when you didn't have them open in many other states,"
U.S. Census data showed that California's population was down by more than 500,000 people from April 2020 to July 2022, with residents moving to other states, New York Post reported.
Experts and data partially attributed the mass exodus to the state's lack of affordable housing, while Ron DeSantis blamed Gavin Newsom and other Democrats for their governance.
Aside from California, New York, Illinois, and Louisiana have also reported a decline in their population. DeSantis called California a "biomedical security state" due to its strict COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Florida did not impose the use of vaccine passports for people to enter establishments and businesses. DeSantis noted that it was a "personal choice" that people had to decide on, and the state was "not going to let you be excluded."
Aside from banning vaccine cards, DeSantis also enforced other policies in Florida, such as banning books in school libraries, claiming that some books provide pornographic material, ABC Action News reported.
California on Ron DeSantis
California resident, Laura Zempel, said that Ron DeSantis is absolutely doing a "laboratory for fascism." Zempel is from a family of educators and commented on DeSantis' move to ban books in Florida.
The California resident told Sacramento Bee that it would ruin the country's democracy if DeSantis were to be a national figure.
An educator from Simi Valley, Tara Lynne, also put her foot down on DeSantis's move, saying "not on my watch are you going to ban books."
Click Orlando provided a list of challenged books in Florida. Some of it included "Dreaming in Cuban," John Greene's "Looking for Alaska," and Jay Asher's "Thirteen Reasons Why."
Some books required parental consent, such as Christine Watkins's "Date Rape" and Patricia McCormick's "Sold," among many others. DeSantis also revoked the Reedy Creem Improvement District of its self-governing status.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Visits Reagan Library in Simi Valley - From KTLA 5