Gavin Newsom's Fourth of July ad buy in Florida fuels 2024 speculation

California Gov. Gavin Newsom told Floridians that “freedom is under attack in your state” in a Fourth of July ad campaign targeting their governor, Ron DeSantis.

"Your Republican leaders, they're banning books," Newsom says with a photo of DeSantis shaking hands with former President Donald Trump in the background.

The blue-state governor also accuses Republicans of "making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors."

Newsom is likely referring to Florida’s rejection of 41% of the state’s math books that “incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including [critical race theory].”

He invited anyone living in the Sunshine State to keep resisting Republican policies.

"I urge all of you living in Florida to join the fight," Newsom says.

“Or join us in California, where we still believe in freedom."

The out-of-state ad buy, funded by Newsom’s re-election campaign, was seen by observers as an sign the California Democrat is considering a presidential run in 2024.

“The Governor who said he has ‘subzero interest’ in running for President will reportedly air ads in a state …*checks notes* …2,700 miles away from his own,” tweeted Ashley Zavala, Sacramento reporter for Nexstar Media Group.

Over 18,000 California residents moved to Florida in 2019 and over 17,000 in 2020, according to data from the South Florida Business Journal, reports Fox News.

DeSantis has expressed concerns Californians will continue to vote for Democrats, as the ex-pats to Texas have.

"It's like the leftism, they will not draw the connection between their leftist ideology and the destruction that's all around them," DeSantis said in April.

"It is a problem because I do think there’s a class of voters who would come to Florida, and they would continue to vote the same way."

This is not the first time an out-of-state Democrat has bought an ad campaign in Florida.

After DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, New York City mayor Eric Adams ran a billboard campaign inviting LGBT families to move to his city.