By MACKENZIE MAYS
08/26/2021 02:29 PM EDT
SACRAMENTO — Florida is living rent-free in California's head.
Gov. Gavin Newsom can't stop talking about the Sunshine State as he campaigns to save his job. He's using Florida as the ultimate threat of what California could become if the complex recall process leads to Republican leadership in the deep blue state next month.
Meanwhile, Republican hopefuls have repeatedly evoked the East Coast alternative as something to aspire to, fighting to replace Newsom and his public health orders with someone more like mask-averse conservative Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The latest state-on-state tensions show just how much power governors have amassed during the Covid-19 pandemic as they've set policies on masks, closures, schools and vaccines. DeSantis and Newsom have become party figureheads in their own right, the former a stand-in for open rules, the latter for strong mandates.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/26/california-cant-stop-talking-about-florida-506948
