California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis turned their feud over blue and red state policies personal Thursday, clashing for more than 90 minutes over crime, taxes, COVID-19 pandemic policies, immigration, book bans and other divisive issues in an unorthodox debate that both men hoped would propel their national political ambitions.
California has “failed because of his leftist ideology,” DeSantis said of Newsom, whom he called a “slick politician.”
“There’s one thing ... that we have in common,” Newsom said. “Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.”
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The forum in Georgia between the liberal Democrat and the conservative Republican, hosted by Sean Hannity on Fox News, culminated months of shadow boxing between the two governors, who have used their states’ opposing partisan approaches to governing to attack each other.
Newsom was on the defensive for much of the debate as Hannity focused on taxes, crime, late-term abortions, California’s high gas prices and other topics on which conservatives believe they have the upper hand politically. Newsom responded by ignoring or reframing many of the questions as the two men repeatedly spoke over one another in a chaotic back-and-forth.
DeSantis, who has seen his once-promising presidential campaign sag, recognized an opportunity to take down the leader of the most prominent Democratic-led state, which he attacked as a bastion of unhinged progressive policies that have led to lawlessness and mass departures.
Newsom, who may run for president in 2028, saw an opportunity to cement his reputation as a warrior for Democratic values, unafraid of Fox News and Republicans, as he savaged DeSantis’ vision of freedom as phony in a state where books are banned and abortion rights are curtailed.
The risks for both men were clear. Some viewers may see the obvious downgrade in DeSantis’ campaign as he battles a governor who is not running for president, instead of former President Trump, the overwhelming favorite to win the GOP nomination, or President Biden, the man he hopes to ultimately unseat. Newsom could come off as too eager for attention and overconfident in believing he could dispatch DeSantis, who came well prepared, in a debate moderated by Hannity.
It’s unclear whether Thursday’s debate will change minds on policy. But viewers got a clear contrast in a nation where differences are more often being played out in the states, which are increasingly dominated by a single party.
Hannity stacks the deck and Newsom goes on the defense
The debate gave Newsom a national stage to show Democrats that he’s a fighter for the party, ready to go on the offensive against Republicans.
But with questions from Fox News host Sean Hannity aimed at California’s higher tax rates and crime rates, the governor was on the defense for much of the evening. Newsom sidestepped a question about California’s population losses, and Hannity called him out for it.
“People are leaving California in droves because he has failed to stand up for public safety,” DeSantis said.
As a surrogate for Biden, Newsom faced the difficult challenge of responding to criticism about his own record and the president’s policy positions. Newsom, who faced renewed accusations during the debate that he is running a shadow presidential campaign, made clear numerous times that he was there to defend Biden, who he said he would take at age 100 over DeSantis.
In some of his strongest moments, Newsom chided DeSantis for Florida’s lax gun laws, for demeaning the LGBTQ+ community and for rolling back abortion rights.
“You’re nothing but a bully,” Newsom said. “Intimidating and humiliating people, that’s your calling.”
San Francisco takes a beating as a ‘template’ for Democrats’ America
San Francisco, a city of great views and some of the world’s best restaurants, has long been a punching bag for conservatives, including DeSantis, who claimed in a video this year that he saw people defecating in the streets and using drugs because of “leftist policies.”
DeSantis took that a step further Thursday, claiming Newsom, the former mayor, “turned that into a template for California’s collapse.”
“Now the left wants to take the California model and use that as a template for America’s collapse,” he said.
DeSantis painted the state as a den of crime, where toothpaste is locked in retail store cabinets and women hide their jewelry when shopping for fear of being mugged. At another point, he held up a map that he claimed charted reports of human feces on the Bay Area city’s streets.
“Don’t insult a great American city,” Newsom shot back.
“It’s an interesting campaign strategy for Ron DeSantis to be bashing the state of 40 million Americans,” Newsom said at another point, implying it would harm his presidential ambitions.
DeSantis alleged the Democratic governor has allowed the quality of life in California to deteriorate on his watch. He zeroed in on homelessness, Newsom’s greatest political vulnerability.
“In California, you have the freedom to pitch a tent on Sunset Boulevard,” DeSantis said. “You have the freedom to create a homeless encampment under a freeway and you can light it on fire. You have the freedom to have an open-air drug market and use drugs.”
Abortion is tougher political problem for DeSantis
Abortion policy provided perhaps the most stark contrast of the night between the two governors.
“Ron DeSantis signed the most extreme antiabortion bills in America,” Newsom said. “So extreme is your ban that criminalizes women and criminalizes doctors that even Donald Trump said it was too extreme.”
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion last year, Newsom and legislative leaders asked California voters to enshrine a woman’s right to choose into the state constitution.
In the complete opposite approach, DeSantis signed a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is punishable in Florida by up to five years in prison.
Newsom seized on the issue in an ad he ran in Florida and Washington, D.C., days before the debate, sensing a potential political vulnerability for DeSantis. The ban might help the Florida governor in a Republican primary, but most Americans — and Floridians — do not support his policy position.
A Pew Research Center survey conducted in the spring found that about 6 in 10 Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while a little more than a third said it should be illegal in all or most cases.
Will DeSantis get a boost?
The Florida governor appeared much more confident debating Newsom than he has in Republican presidential primary debates, at which he has found it hard to get much time to speak or much traction in a field that largely agrees on the issues.
Thursday, he had Newsom, a clear ideological foe, all to himself. Plus he had the boost from Hannity, who geared the questions toward issues that benefited DeSantis.
The performance is likely to help DeSantis gain some attention, especially on Fox News and other conservative venues. But it could be hard to reverse his slide in the polls as Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and GOP rival, picks up steam and Trump remains the overwhelming front-runner for the nomination.
“When are you going to drop out and at least get Nikki Haley a shot to take down Donald Trump?” Newsom said in a taunt near the end of the debate.
DeSantis disagreed.
A judge on Thursday upheld New York City’s new minimum wage for delivery workers in the latest defeat of Uber’s relentless legal challenges to the rule.
Under the new minimum pay law, tech companies must pay delivery workers in the city at least $17.96 per hour plus tips, with another increase to at least $19.96 an hour by 2025. Before the new minimum wage, delivery workers were making about $11.12 with tips, and as little as $4.03 an hour without tips, according to a report by the city.
Mayor Eric Adams celebrated the decision as a win for delivery workers in a statement on Wednesday.
“Our delivery workers have consistently delivered for us — now, we are delivering for them,” Adams said in a statement. “Today’s court decision is yet another promise made and promise kept by our administration on behalf of working New Yorkers, and it is a powerful tool to hold apps accountable. This minimum pay rate will guarantee our delivery workers and their families can earn a living and keep our city’s legendary restaurant industry going strong.”
The regulations were first announced by Adams in June, initially to go into effect by July 12. But just days before it was set to go into effect, UberEats, DoorDash and GrubHub filed lawsuits against the city seeking a temporary restraining order from the state Supreme Court in Manhattan to stop the plan.
Appeals Judge Nicholas Moyne paused the change while he deliberated. On Sept. 28, he ruled against the delivery giants, allowing the wage increase to go through. Uber immediately tried to appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, the next highest court, again blocking the minimum wage from taking effect.
On Wednesday Judge Llinét M. Rosado denied that request, upholding the lower court’s decision without explanation. It is unclear when the new minimum wage will take effect.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said the ruling was a “monumental” win for the workers.
“As essential workers with grueling conditions, they deserve a pay standard that is not dictated by the whims of apps companies or by how many food orders they can achieve in an hour,” Lander said. “These workers deserve secure pay that allows them to put food on their own tables while delivering food to our doors.”
Gustavo Ajche with Los Deliveristas Unidos, the delivery worker collective that has been fighting for better wages for years, said the group was happy with the decision, but hesitant to celebrate until they see the law implemented.
“It’s a really good day for us today,” Ajche “It’s really good, it’s another step, but we’re not going to say, 'We won, we got this.' We want to see the money in all the delivery workers pockets. It’s something that we’ve been waiting for for months now, but today is another step forward in our fight.”
Uber spokesperson Josh Gold said the company was disappointed in the decision but was glad to see that drivers will now be able to afford safer e-bikes after several fatal fires related to the lithium-ion batteries found inside them.
“While we're disappointed the city pushed through a rule that eliminates jobs, discourage tipping, and forces couriers to go faster and accept more trips, the higher wage does address another priority of the city by including enough money to purchase their own UL-certified e-bikes and batteries,” Gold said.
Tesla's (TSLA.O) Cybertruck has caught the attention of many drivers with its polarizing design that promises a durable build and unique features.
The electric pickup, however, enters a fiercely competitive truck market, with automakers trying to one-up rivals with utility and features.
The Cybertruck has a unique trapezoidal exterior design inspired by the "Blade Runner" movie and a stainless-steel alloy exoskeleton that challenges the traditional aesthetics of the pickup truck market with some features not seen before.
Here are some specifications and features of the Cybertruck:
RANGE
The base rear-wheel-drive variant can travel an estimated 250 miles, while the all-wheel drive and "Cyberbeast" variants can travel 340 miles and 320 miles, respectively.
The top two variants can travel further with an optional range extender that takes about a third of the truck's bed space. "It's meant for very long trips or towing heavy things up mountains," CEO Elon Musk said on X.
POWER
Tesla's top-of-the-line "Cyberbeast" Cybertruck can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.6 seconds, outperforming many sports cars.
Musk on Thursday showed a video of the truck trumping Porsche 911 in a drag race, while towing another unit of the sports car.
It also boasts a towing capacity of 11,000 pounds, matching Rivian's R1T and slightly higher than Ford F-150 Lightning and GM Silverado EV's 10,000 pounds.
BODY
The Cybertruck is the first car in the U.S. since the DMC DeLorean of "Back to The Future" fame to use a stainless steel body and it also has armor glass that can resist the impact of a baseball at 70 miles per hour or Class 4 hail.
Musk said the doors are bulletproof to .45 caliber & 9 millimeter rounds. He showed a video demonstrating the capability to the audience at the event in Austin, Texas.
UTILITY
The truck has a 6-foot-long bed, extra storage space under the bed, and a tonneau cover that follows the angular shape of the car to the tailgate.
It also has further storage space in the front like its other passenger vehicles. The Cybertruck, however, has a powered gate.
The vehicle has 120-volt and 240-volt outlets in the bed and cabin to operate tools, charge EVs, or provide up to 11.5 kilowatts of power to light up a home.
Asia's factory activity remained weak in November on soft global demand, surveys showed on Friday, with mixed signs on the strength of China's economy clouding the outlook for the region's fragile recovery.
China's private Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) unexpectedly rose to 50.7 in November from a 49.5 reading in October, exceeding the 50 mark separating growth from contraction and surpassing analysts' forecasts.
The reading came a day after an official survey that showed a contraction in both manufacturers' and non-manufacturers' activity, underscoring deepening troubles in the world's second-largest economy.
"The domestic market cannot make up for losses in Europe and the United States. The data shows that factories are producing less and hiring fewer people," Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China, said of China's PMI readings, which have different samples.
Export-reliant Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan bore the brunt of sluggish global demand with their manufacturing activity remaining stagnant in November, surveys showed.
"It's hard to expect a recovery in Asia any time soon," said Toru Nishihama, chief emerging market economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. "While exports probably hit bottom, they won't accelerate much from here as the global economy lacks a key driver of growth."
Japan's final au Jibun Bank manufacturing PMI fell to 48.3 in November from 48.7 in October, shrinking at the fastest pace in nine months.
South Korea's PMI stood at 50.0 in November, rising slightly from October's reading of 49.8. The factory gauge rebound came after 16 straight months of contraction through October, the longest downturn since the survey began in April 2004.
Manufacturing activity also shrank in Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia, but expanded in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, the surveys showed.
China's economy has struggled this year to mount a strong post-pandemic recovery, adding gloom to an already darkening global outlook as U.S. and European economies begin to feel the pinch from past aggressive interest rate hikes.
"The weakness in China's service sector is particularly worrying, as it shows demand is evaporating even as supply picks up," Nishihama of Dai-ichi Life Research Institute said.
In India, the PMI survey released on Friday showed the country's manufacturing growth accelerated in November on robust output and new orders.
While domestic demand appeared strong, international demand took a hit, with new export orders at a five-month low.
A Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) employee filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing the bank of depriving hundreds of its U.S. branch workers of overtime pay, as the bank faces an unprecedented campaign to unionize its workforce.
The proposed class action filed in San Francisco federal court claims Wells Fargo improperly classified "senior premier bankers" as management-level employees who are exempt from overtime pay under federal and state laws.
Senior premier bankers provide customer service, conduct transactions, and generate referrals to financial advisers. And they often work unpaid overtime because of chronic understaffing at Wells Fargo branches, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, penalties, and legal costs.
Wells Fargo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit was filed by Sabrina Perez, an employee at a Wells Fargo branch in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where workers recently filed a petition to hold a union election. Perez has been an outspoken advocate of unionizing, including being quoted in union press releases and news articles.
Michael Scimone, a lawyer for Perez, said Wells Fargo has consistently classified workers as exempt from overtime pay even though they are not managers and lack any decision-making authority.
“Companies like Wells Fargo should know better than to withhold overtime pay from workers like Ms. Perez," Scimone said in a statement.
The proposed class of senior premier bankers across the U.S. could include hundreds of people, lawyers for Perez said.
The union petition in Albuquerque and another at a branch in Alaska are the first ever for Wells Fargo and the first for any major U.S. bank in decades. Just 1% of workers in the financial industry are union members, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Wells Fargo has said that it has made major investments in supporting its employees, including recent improvements to pay and benefits, and that it prefers having a "direct connection" with workers.
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