{"id":203169,"date":"2026-03-24T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203169\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T00:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:00:08","slug":"florida-gov-ron-desantis-trolls-gavin-newsom-with-spicy-anecdote-about-his-father-in-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203169\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida gov. Ron DeSantis trolls Gavin Newsom \u2014 with spicy anecdote about his father-in-law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis trolled Gov.\u00a0Gavin Newsom<\/a>, insisting that his Republican father-in-law is \u201cmuch happier\u201d in the Sunshine State under his leadership, according to a clip exclusively obtained by the Californian Post.<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s father-in-law,\u00a0Kenneth Siebel, became a Florida resident in 2020<\/a> after purchasing a $3.3 million Naples home.<\/p>\n

Jeff Gale and Ken Siebel pose circa July, 2011 in New York City.
WireImage<\/p>\n

In a sit-down with Sean Hannity for his podcast, \u201cHang Out,\u201d DeSantis reiterated his claim that Siebel praised him and his state at a fundraiser.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou run such a great state. It\u2019s so refreshing to be here. We\u2019ve never been happier. We love the way everything\u2019s going,\u201d Siebel said, according to the Republican governor. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then he paused, and he looked up and said, \u2018Oh, by the way, I\u2019m Gavin Newsom\u2019s father-in-law,’\u201d DeSantis added.<\/p>\n

Florida Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis trolled Gov.\u00a0Gavin Newsom, insisting that his Republican father-in-law is \u201cmuch happier\u201d in the Sunshine State under his leadership. AP<\/p>\n

Siebel did not respond to the California Post\u2019s request for comment or confirm the alleged interaction with DeSantis.<\/p>\n

According to DeSantis, the interaction happened in Naples, Florida, during a fundraiser when he was running for reelection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat whole place erupted. They were laughing \u2014 they were like, \u2018Oh my God,\u2019\u201d he added. \u201cHis father-in-law is actually very successful and a really good guy, too. He is very well known, particularly in Northern California.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 office also did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s office, meanwhile, dismissed the claim in a sassy statement dubbing DeSantis, \u201cMeatball Ron.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s father-in-law,\u00a0Kenneth Siebel, became a Florida resident in 2020 after purchasing a $3.3 million Naples home. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Governor has long spoken about marrying into a big Republican family and his deep respect for his father-in-law,\u201d a spokesperson said, adding that the Florida governor had been \u201crecycling\u201d the story for years.<\/p>\n

The 82-year-old investment banker \u2014 and Newsom\u2019s father-in-law \u2014 is a registered Republican<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His daughter, Newsom\u2019s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, was also once a registered Republican and grew up in an affluent, politically conservative family in Marin County before changing her affiliation to independent in 2008, when she married then-San Francisco mayor Newsom.<\/p>\n

The episode also touched on other topics, including whether DeSantis would run for president again.<\/p>\n

DeSantis shared the story after Hannity rattled off California\u2019s budget woes and what he called \u201ccrazy numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI could just go down the list \u2014 the highest income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes in the entire country,\u201d the conservative host said. <\/p>\n

\u201cCrazy numbers, and he still can\u2019t balance his budget \u2014 and he wants to be president.\u201d<\/p>\n

The anecdote drew chuckles from DeSantis, who framed it as emblematic of broader migration trends from California to states like Florida.<\/p>\n

More Californians have continued to move to\u00a0Florida\u00a0in recent years, making it one of the top destinations for residents leaving\u00a0California, according to census data.<\/p>\n

A separate U-Haul growth index has also consistently ranked California among the top states for outbound moves, with more residents leaving via one-way trucks, trailers and moving containers than any other state.<\/p>\n

However, on a per capita basis \u2014 which adjusts for population size \u2014 migration between California and Florida is far closer, with some analyses showing slightly more Floridians moving to California than vice versa.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Siebel has made headlines.<\/p>\n

The Republican father-in-law of California\u2019s top official and a likely Democratic presidential contender in 2028 blasted DeSantis in 2023 as a \u201clying slimeball\u201d after the Florida governor claimed he and his wife fled California for a better life.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Mail, Siebel pushed back on that narrative, saying the couple actually relocated to Florida from Montana and that he had left California years earlier, in the mid-2010s. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis trolled Gov.\u00a0Gavin Newsom, insisting that his Republican father-in-law is \u201cmuch happier\u201d in the Sunshine State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4535,28,30,29,5324,24680,99,62014,412,4278],"class_list":["post-203169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-california","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-metro","tag-politics","tag-quality-of-life","tag-ron-desantis","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}