WASHINGTON — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron De Santis have been trolling each other recently on the pandemic, abortion, LGBTQ rights and more.
But Newsom said that what pushed him to air an anti-GOP ad in Florida over the Fourth of July was DeSantis’ treatment of the Special Olympics. The state threatened to fine the organization $27.5 million if it didn’t drop its COVID-19 vaccine mandate before the 2022 USA Games in Orlando last month. Special Olympics officials complied.
“He did something that tipped me very directly, and that was going after the Special Olympics. I had an emotional response to that,” Newsom told The Bee, his voice catching momentarily. “That led to the consideration of doing something a little bit more expressive and that was the determination on the ad.”
