New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy supported a Fourth of July weekend ad in which fellow Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom invited Floridians to move to California.
Newsom aired a 30-second ad that attacked Republicans leaders such as Gov. Ron DeSantis, and invited Floridians to head west for more "freedom."
"I like it," Murphy said Tuesday after being asked about Newsom's ad during an interview on CNN's "New Day." "I have to say, we've become, sadly … it's thanks to extreme politics, it's thanks, most recently, to a hard right-wing radical block of the U.S. Supreme Court, we've become a patchwork quilt country right now.
"And I think the states that are on the right side of history, and I'm proud that New Jersey is, I think we need to stand up and be counted and make sure we remind folks around the country [that] if you value values, come to states like New Jersey, and I suspect that's exactly what Gov. Newsom has in mind in terms of California's values."
Newsom's ad slammed Florida for "Banning books. Restricting speech. Making it harder to vote. Criminalizing women and doctors," the California governor's Twitter account said.
Murphy added to Democrats' rhetoric by telling CNN that the U.S. was still "the greatest nation on earth" but that "war has been declared by a right-wing Supreme Court bloc against American women."
"[The court] has likewise allowed us to, overnight, become a lot less safe due to conceal-carry gun laws," said Murphy, alluding to the justices' decision last month that rejected a New York law preventing people from carrying concealed weapons.
"And look at the [mass shooting] tragedy that happened yesterday in a Highland Park. So we are a great nation but we are in challenging troubled times right now. And women especially are paying a huge price."
On Monday, Dave Abrams, a DeSantis spokesman, characterized Newsom's media blitz as "pathetic" and implied that most Florida residents would have little interest in moving to California — which has the highest income tax rate of any state (13.3% in 2021), the most expensive pricing for regular gasoline ($6.22 per gallon, via GasBuddy.com), and a bottom-five ranking in cost of living.
"The people of Florida pay no mind to the pathetic smear campaigns from the Democrats and their allies in the corporate media," Abrams told the Daily Wire. "We're too busy enjoying the freedom Gov. Ron DeSantis has created in the Sunshine State."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.