California Gov. Gavin Newsom urges Florida residents to move to his state 'where we still believe in freedom'

Gov. Gavin Newsom attacked Florida Republicans in an ad that aired on Fox News in the state. The Democrat and current head of California's government said that "freedom is under attack" in Florida before urging people who wanted to live free to move to his state.

"Your Republican leaders, they're banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms and criminalizing women and doctors," he said.

We’re about to celebrate Independence Day -- but Freedom is under attack by Republican leaders in states like Florida.

Banning books.
Restricting speech.
Making it harder to vote.
Criminalizing women and doctors.

It’s time to stand up. Don’t let them take your freedom. pic.twitter.com/cFI5UzgZzX

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 3, 2022

Newsom then offered two options: fighting against the Republican agenda in the state or moving to California, "where we still believe in freedom." Like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Newsom has kept his presidential ambitions close to the vest, though this ad certainly seems like a way to position himself against the two likely Republican frontrunners, who both live in Florida.

The ad is merely the latest out-of-state campaign urging people to leave Florida for less oppressive states. New York City ran ads in the state encouraging LGBTQ people and their allies to move to the metropolis. Meanwhile, Texas and Florida, both bastions of MAGA-flavor™ freedom, are the No.1 and No. 2 states in numeric population growth, 2020 to 2021 (Texas added 310,288 people and Florida, 211,196).

This article was first published at our sister publication Orlando Weekly.