California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom’s wife reportedly ended the Fox News debate on Thursday night between Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
After the first 90 minutes of the debate were finished, moderator Sean Hannity said that he had more time to extend the debate. Both candidates agreed to stay and Newsom said that he would be “happy to do it.”
“We will take a break. They have agreed to stay,” Hannity said. “Well, that’s I guess the debate on the fly. We’ll continue on the other side and later have live post-debate coverage.”
Behind the scenes, however, the Newsom team was reportedly furious over the outcome of the debate, with Newsom adviser Sean Clegg claiming: “The debate was rigged.”
Much of the reaction on social media to the debate was positive for DeSantis and negative for Newsom.
During the break before the extended portion of the debate, Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, entered the room and intervened to end the debate, NBC News reported, citing multiple sources with the DeSantis campaign and another source that was unaffiliated with either side.
“We’re done,” she reportedly said.
POLITICO reported that two sources, including a DeSantis campaign aide, said the Newsom’s wife had put a stop to the debate extension.
“Gavin Newsom got beat so badly last night his wife literally had to throw in the towel for him,” said DeSantis spokesperson Andrew Romeo.
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Newsom’s team claimed that both sides wanted to end the debate. DeSantis team strongly pushed back on those claims, saying that DeSantis was prepared to potentially go as long as three hours.
A spokesperson for Newsom claimed without evidence that there was a teleprompter set up that allowed DeSantis to see what was going to be asked. A Fox News spokesperson said this claim was not true.
Newsom’s team was also angered that DeSantis used printed images during the debate to show graphic material taught in California schools and a map of fecal matter on the streets of San Francisco.
The Fox News spokesperson said that candidates were never told that they could not use props during the debate.