With the Great Red vs. Blue State Debate ringing in their ears, Americans can count themselves the winners. Thanks to Governor DeSantis, Republican of Florida, and Governor Newsom, Democrat of California, voters have a clear contrast between governing philosophies that’s rare in an era of style over substance.

On Hamas, the governors agreed: Israel must prevail. On crime, homelessness, schools, gun regulations, border security, illegal immigration, and abortion, they clashed. That some were federal issues rather than state ones didn’t matter. America, the governors agreed, was at stake.

Abortion has proven a powerful wedge issue since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Mr. Newsom’s advocacy for it may be all Democratic voters needed to hear. He used the topic to challenge Mr. DeSantis’s boast that Florida is a state of freedom.

“Tell that ‘freedom’ to women that you’re trying to criminalize in your state,” Mr. Newsom said as Mr. DeSantis hewed towards the unborn who can “feel pain” and have heartbeats. Later, Mr. Newsom hit the same theme. “I don’t like the way you demean the LGBTQ community,” he said. “I don’t like the way you demean and humiliate people you disagree with.”

Mr. DeSantis shook his head and smiled throughout these onslaughts, refuting premises when he could. That led a frustrated Mr. Newsom to say, “As you smile and smirk over there,” prompting viewers to consider if they saw anything sinister behind the Floridian’s grin.

The greatest success for Mr. DeSantis was a familiar story. “We do count Gavin’s in-laws,” he said, “as some of the people that have fled California.” Mr. Newsom might have been expected to have an answer for his in-laws choosing to move. That he didn’t verges on political malpractice.

Mr. DeSantis cited what others like Mr. Newsom’s father-in-law had told him about why they preferred Florida to California, personalizing his policies for lower taxes and less regulation. Mr. Newsom quoted criticism of Mr. DeSantis from the father of a child killed in a Florida mass shooting but offered no personal accounts of praise from his state.

The props favored Mr. DeSantis, too. He produced a sexually explicit book he’d removed from schools but that’s used by some in California and a San Francisco “poop map” marking areas soiled by human feces. Mr. Newsom brought no visual aids, a small point but one that hurt his presentation by contrast.

Mr. Newsom seemed a step behind all night. After Mr. DeSantis said his opponent wasn’t telling the American people the truth but he would, and spoke into the camera, Mr. Newsom later did the same. After being called a “bully,” Mr. Newsom slung the insult back rather than deploy a new one, and on he went, playing catch-up.

The scourge of crosstalk that mars our modern debates showed up on stage, too. Since voters seem resigned to it, the governors may have felt free to deploy it as a tactic. The moderator from Fox News and Premiere Radio, Sean Hannity, begged, with little effect, not to be made a “hall monitor.” 

Although the debate was billed as a battle of Republican and Democratic states, Mr. Newsom spent a lot of time invoking Mr. Biden rather than citing his own record. Prompted to grade the president, the Californian rated him an A while Mr. DeSantis delivered a failing grade.

When Mr. DeSantis charged Mr. Newsom with running a “shadow campaign” to usurp Mr. Biden on the Democratic ticket next year, Mr. Newsom insisted that he wouldn’t be a replacement candidate even if his party’s convention asked him to stand.

It was a refreshing flashback to the 1800s, when it was believed that the office should seek the man. It was also smart politics for 2024. The 54 percent of Democrats who, in last month’s Yahoo News/YouGov poll, said they’d like a choice other than Mr. Biden may just have found their man.

Mr. DeSantis, free from having to defend Mr. Trump, focused on the contrast between California and Florida. Reasons for the migration to red from blue states were undeniable, although deny them Mr. Newsom did.

It’s also a fact that Mr. DeSantis trails Mr. Trump in the polls, something Mr. Newsom pointed out while accusing his sparring partner of “trying to out-Trump Trump.” That line could have blunted what may instead be the night’s most lasting wound.

Mr. DeSantis called Mr. Newsom “a slick, slippery politician whose state is failing” and used “slick” several other times. Although not one of Mr. Trump’s derogatory nicknames, it may stick because it pairs so well with Mr. Newsom’s hairstyle. 

Presidents Nixon and Clinton were branded early in their careers as “Tricky Dick” and “Slick Willie,”and the words stuck. If that’s Mr. Newsom’s fate, he can take solace in the fact that both men won two terms in the Oval Office.

It was for the White House that both men were auditioning for as they ended on amiable, patriotic notes. Should this prove a preview of some future presidential campaign, it would be one heavier on issues and lighter on personalities than our recent elections, which, in my view, would be to the nation’s great benefit and relief.

Even if Messrs. DeSantis and Newsom never meet on the hustings, they gave Americans the opportunity — if they could pardon the interruptions — to weigh two very different theories about the role of government, from leaders as far apart on issues as the East and West Coasts.