The FBI has handed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a fresh talking point in his upcoming debate with left-wing California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Fighting crime.
Earlier this week, the FBI released the national violent crime statistics for 2022.
Since 2019, the year that both DeSantis and Newsom were elected the leaders of their respective states, violent crime in Florida has plunged 31.5%; in California, it’s up 13%.
Nationally, violent crime dropped 1.7% in 2022.
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In terms of actual rates, California’s number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents has jumped from 442 in 2019 to 500 in 2022.
However, that rate has fallen in Florida from 378 per 100,000 residents to 259, according to the FBI.
The FBI tallies violent crimes based on the number of murders, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, larcenies, and car thefts.
California outpaces Florida in each individual category, sometimes dramatically so.
For instance, California in 2022 reported almost four times as many robberies as Florida and more than triple the rate of stolen cars and aggravated assaults 75% higher than Florida’s.
Newsom has tried to draw a contrast between his state and Florida by pointing to LGBTQ policies.
DeSantis, however, has countered by noting the significant difference in crime rates and the fact that California, as he said in June, is “hemorrhaging wealth” and “hemorrhaging population.”
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Newsom has presided over the first reduction in population in California’s history, while Florida, under DeSantis, is the fastest-growing state in America.
DeSantis has said the numbers show people don’t want to live in “the petri dish of American leftism.”
“We can cite all the statistics,” DeSantis told Fox News in June.
“People vote with their feet, and if someone picks up and moves 2,500 miles across the country from California to Florida, that’s a major statement. I grew up in Florida. I never saw California license plates until the last four years.”
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