Fox sets date for Newsom-DeSantis debate

Gov. Ron DeSantis will debate Gov. Gavin Newsom on Nov. 30 on Fox News, the station said Monday, setting the stage for a highly unusual primary season tilt between the Florida Republican and the California Democrat.

DeSantis, struggling in his Republican primary campaign for the White House, agreed in the summer to debate Newsom, who is not running for president but has been viewed as an alternative should President Biden, 80, change his mind about campaigning for reelection.

Fox News said Sean Hannity would serve as host for the 90-minute debate, and that it would take place somewhere in Georgia, a key swing state.

Biden’s advisers have privately complained about the planned session, NBC News reported in August.

Newsom spokesman Nathan Click suggested Monday that the debate was not a done deal.

“We’ve agreed to the debate — provided there is no cheering section, no hype videos or any of the other crutches DeSantis requested,” Click said in an email. “We want a real debate — not a circus.”

The faceoff could offer DeSantis an opportunity to shift the fortunes of his flagging campaign.

DeSantis trails former President Donald Trump by about 43 percentage points in the Republican primary, according to an aggregation of polls by FiveThirtyEight. He was lagging by just single digits as recently as March.

Trump, who has not agreed to debate his Republican challengers, has seen his standing in the primary supercharged amid four criminal indictments this year.

In August, DeSantis replaced his campaign manager, a move that came after the campaign laid off more than a third of its staff.

DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said in a statement that the “contrast of California’s failures to Florida’s success demonstrates that Ron DeSantis is right: decline is merely a choice.

”Whether Newsom or Biden is the Democrat nominee in ’24, they both offer the same failed and dangerous ideology for America that helped get us in this mess,” he added. “We look forward to putting Ron DeSantis’ record of success up against it.”

Newsom, 55, and DeSantis, 45, have not debated before, according to Fox News.

In a statement, Hannity said he was “looking forward to providing viewers with an informative debate about the everyday issues and governing philosophies that impact the lives of every American.”