DeSantis Campaign Mocks Gavin Newsom After Wife Reportedly Stops Debate: ‘Had to Throw in the Towel for Him’
A spokesman for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘ presidential campaign roasted California Governor Gavin Newsom over his wife’s intervention in Thursday night’s debate between the two executives on Fox News.
After the hour-and-a-half long debate had seemingly concluded, the two candidates and moderator Sean Hannity all agreed to carry on for awhile longer.
But after a brief commercial break, Hannity explained that they decided to call it quits after all because the participants had “other commitments.”
NBC News provided more context for the reversal of their original decision on Friday morning:
According to four sources in the DeSantis camp — one who witnessed the moment in the room and three others who were standing backstage (where there was no press or live studio audience) — Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, came into the debate room on at least two occasions to raise some objections.
She also made her way to the stage during the break after the candidates agreed to extend the debate and put an end to it.
A fifth source on the ground, unaffiliated with either campaign, confirmed that Siebel Newsom ended the debate on her husband’s behalf, saying, “We’re done.”
While a Newsom aide denied the report and insisted that “the decision not to keep going with the debate was mutual,” DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo still mocked the Golden State Governor.
“Gavin Newsom got beat so badly last night his wife literally had to throw in the towel for him. It was embarrassing,” declared Romeo.
Siebel Newsom also reportedly objected to DeSantis’ invocation of a conversation he had with her father toward the beginning of the event.
“So, I was talking to a fella who had made the move from California to Florida, and he was telling me that Florida is much better governed, safer, better budget, lower taxes, all this stuff, and he’s really happy with the quality of life,” recalled DeSantis. “And then he paused, and he said, ‘You know, by the way, I’m Gavin Newsom’s father-in-law.'”
