By ONME Newswire
In this part 1 segment of California Politics Now, "The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate" with Julia Ann Dudley Najieb, viewers first get an in-depth review of the backgrounds of both governors, Gavin Newsom of California and Ron DeSantis of Florida.
According to CalMatters, DeSantis accepted Newsom’s debate challenge in August, pitting him against someone who is not even in the presidential race. But lacking opportunities to face off directly against Trump, who has refused to participate in the GOP primary debates, DeSantis aimed to show Republican voters that he is best-equipped to take on Democratic President Joe Biden in the general election.
About Gov. Gavin Newsom:
Gavin Christopher Newsom, 56, is a fourth-generation San Franciscan, politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California.
member of the Democratic Party, he was the 49th lieutenant governor of California from 2011 to 2019
He was the 42nd mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011; Newsom was elected mayor of San Francisco in 2003 and reelected in 2007..
Newsom graduated from Santa Clara University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science with a major in political science.
Afterward, he founded the boutique winery PlumpJack Group with billionaire heir and family friend Gordon Getty as an investor.
About Gov. Ron DeSantis:
Ronald Dion DeSantis, 45, has been serving since 2019 as the 46th governor of Florida.
A member of the Republican Party, he represented Florida's 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018.
DeSantis spent most of his childhood in Dunedin, Florida. He graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School.
DeSantis joined the United States Navy in 2004 and was promoted to lieutenant before serving as a legal advisor to SEAL Team One.
DeSantis is a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Also in this segment, Dudley Najieb reviews the alarming data regarding the living conditions for residents in each state, especially for Black and minority communities.
For instance, California’s state and local tax burden, as a share of income, was the fifth-highest in the country last year, according to the Tax Foundation, a conservative think tank, while Florida’s was 39th. Florida notably does not have a personal income tax.
According to Cal Matters, Because of its reliance on sales and property taxes, however, Florida’s regressive tax system falls disproportionately on the poor. Low-income families there face a higher tax burden than low-income Californians, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal think tank, while also receiving help from a less-generous social safety net.
Thus, in the latest Census Bureau analysis, Florida had the third-highest poverty rate in the country last year — after Washington, D.C., and California.
Florida does not have a state income tax and is largely dependent on tourism tax revenue. That revenue is under pressure because of the state’s politics, though the state says the number of visitors to the state shows it’s doing just fine.
New laws, including those that restrict abortion rights and school curriculum, have led to travel advisories and convention cancellations amid accusations that Florida is hostile to members of the LGBTQ community, women, people of color and immigrants. As part of the culture wars going on in the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis also is sparring with Disney, a huge source of jobs and revenue. A recently released Disney-backed study says the Walt Disney World Resort generated more than $40 billion in economic activity in the state in 2022.
In the latter part of this segment, show host Julia Ann Dudley Najieb reviews the national poll numbers of President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump, as well as the Republican nominees for the 2024 Presidential Elections.
Part 2
In the part 2 segment of California Politics Now, A review of 'The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate,' according to CalMatters, California and Florida have the nation’s highest and third-highest unhoused populations. But with more than 171,000 unhoused people in California in 2022, the Golden State has a much higher rate: about 44 out of every 10,000 residents are without a home. That’s more than three and a half times the rate of residents experiencing homelessness in Florida, according to federal data.
In Florida, more than half of unhoused residents are living in some kind of shelter, while two-thirds of unhoused Californians live outside. Homelessness in Florida has actually declined by more than 50% since peaking in 2010.
Through the first two years of the pandemic, the homeless count in Florida fell from more than 27,000 in 2020 to just under 26,000 in 2022, while in California it has grown steadily to a record high.
Watch now to find out which state turns out to be the worst for most Black Americans to live.