Adding another layer to his rivalry with GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is heading to Sarasota, Fla., on Wednesday to meet with students at an embattled college campus that has become a symbol of the national culture wars.
The California Democrat is making a pointed visit to speak to students from the New College of Florida — where DeSantis, as part of his war on “woke,” not long ago named six conservative trustees. Newsom is scheduled to speak with students who are leading the fight against DeSantis’ effort to control the college, according to his spokesman Nathan Click.
The stop is included in Newsom’s tour through the South to support Democrats and promote progressive values and part of a new national campaign Newsom launched last week called the “Campaign for Democracy.”
This year, DeSantis named the trustees for the small college on Sarasota Bay, including Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow for the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank, who is best known for his activism against critical race theory in American education.
Rufo has vowed to scrap “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs and hire new faculty with expertise in constitutional law, “American principles” and what he has called family values.
Another appointed trustee, Jason “Eddie” Speir — the co-founder, chairman and superintendent of the Inspiration Academy, a private Christian athletics-oriented school — floated the idea of terminating all contracts with faculty, staff and administration at the college, and rehiring others who “fit in the new financial and business model.”
Newsom’s arrival at the beleaguered school is a shot at his political nemesis, DeSantis, and a further escalation in a battle between these two ideological rivals.
On Tuesday, Newsom used Twitter to slam DeSantis’ proposal to loosen gun laws in Florida: “Pathetic.”
The Sarasota stop will be the fourth on his campaign through the South, which has included a meeting with high school students in Arkansas, a visit with the mayor of Jackson, Miss., and a stopover at the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Ala., which focuses on the history of slavery and racism in America.
“While the media circus focuses on the politics of hate and division today, it’s never been more important to organize from the bottom up,” Newsom said in a video he posted Tuesday on Twitter. “States like Alabama that were ground zero for the fight for civil rights are experiencing a massive roll back of freedoms led by the @GOP.”
Susanne Rust
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