Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, seen as the biggest GOP threat to former President Trump’s 2024 White House campaign, is visiting Southern California this weekend to promote his new book and ingratiate himself as he raises money for Republicans in conservative strongholds.

DeSantis, who is regularly at odds with the California Democratic government. Gavin Newsom has not officially announced a presidential bid. However, his Sunday appearances before nearly 2,000 well-to-do donors and influential Republicans in Simi Valley and Anaheim are yet another signal that he is considering a bid for the GOP nomination.

California is a common stopover for presidential candidates because the state is a major source of campaign money for politicians in both parties. DeSanti’s visit also comes days after a poll shows he has overtaken Trump among the state’s Republican voters as their choice to be their party’s presidential nominee next year.

GOP strategist Kevin Spillane argued that DeSantis is a perfect fit for California Republicans who are tired of the former president’s drama and are looking for a seasoned politician with a conservative track record on taxes, regulations and COVID policies.

You may not like him, but he is smart, tough and skilled. Most Republicans are looking for a strong president, not a hug from our nominee, said Spillane, who donated $6,000 to DeSantis’ reelection campaign last year.

Spillane said that while he admires the former governor of South Carolina. Nikki Haley, who has announced a presidential campaign, and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who is expected to make a bid, think DeSantis is the best choice to challenge the former president.

I believe he’s the only one who can stop Trump, and he’s the one who can bring the party together, said Spillane, who has opposed Trump since the 2016 election.

GOP strategist Rob Stutzman noted that while much of DeSanti’s record in Florida would appeal to California Republicans, he questioned whether some of his decisions, including his battle with the Burbank-based Walt Disney Co., would would go the wrong way. After the company opposed a Florida law that banned discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, DeSantis signed a law that ended the company’s system of self-government over approximately 40 square miles with Walt Disney World and other properties.

I don’t know if anyone wants to feel protective of Disney, Stutzman said. But that’s starting to run counter to the fascist idea of ​​using government to bend speech to your point of view.

DeSantis writes about his feud with the company in his book, The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for Americas Revival, which was released Tuesday. In a chapter titled The Magic Kingdom of Woke Corporatism, DeSantis said he advised then-Chief Executive Bob Chapek to stay out of the battle over the legislation, which critics called Don’t Say Gay.

He will discuss the book Sunday afternoon before about 1,000 people at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Later that night, he will lead a fundraiser for the Orange County Republican Party at an Anaheim resort. More than 900 people have purchased tickets for the private fundraiser, ranging from $500 individual seats to $15,000 to be a platinum sponsor, which includes a VIP reception, photos with the governor and an autographed copy of his book.

Protests are planned, including a Sunday afternoon by Trump supporters in Newport Beach.

Orange County GOP leaders would not disclose the location of DeSanti’s evening performance. However, they said it was the biggest event in county party history, a remarkable achievement in a historic conservative stronghold that then-President Reagan described in 1988 as where the good Republicans go before they die.

GOP county chairman Fred Whitaker expects DeSanti’s performance to be followed by stops by other White House hopefuls as California pushed back its presidential primary to March 2024. Former governor of Arkansas. Asa Hutchinson, who is considering a presidential bid, will appear on March 20; Haley and Scott will be visiting soon.

While California is mostly Democratic, it is home to millions of GOP voters and many of the nation’s largest political donors.

In 2020, the state was the main source of revenue for Joe Biden’s campaign committee and for outside groups that supported his bid, all more than

$300 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. California was the No. 3 source of financial support for Trump and independent organizations supporting him, raising more than $92 million. These numbers are significantly understated because they do not include contributions to political action committees or individual donations under $200.

While DeSantis isn’t raising any money for himself during this visit, Californians donated more than $800,000 toward his 2022 re-election as Florida governor. He headlined a September fundraiser that cost up to $25,000 a couple at the $50 million, 30,000-square-foot Newport Coast mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean owned by Undercover Billionaire star Glenn Stearns and his wife, Mindy, a former Los Angeles TV entertainment reporter. Stearns made his fortune by establishing a mortgage lender.

DeSantis is popular with smaller donors in California, including Gershon Luria of Alameda County, 71.

I love him. I will donate him as soon as I have some money available, and especially if he decides to run, said Luria, who contributed $25 to a pro-DeSantis political action committee in 2021. He said he and his wife live on our pension plus whatever else we can get but I would donate as much as I can.

California also has the most Republican voters of any state in the country and the largest delegation in the nomination contest at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

If you’re even thinking about running for president of the United States, you need to be in California before that March primary, Whitaker said. You will see these candidates spend time on the ground.

State GOP Chair Jessica Millan Patterson said California is a double draw for candidates given the state’s wealth of donors and delegates.

We would see many if not all of these candidates coming through California not just to raise money, although that is an added benefit, but to meet voters convincing them why they should be our candidate, she said.

DeSantis is expected to meet wealthy lenders during his brief visit to California. GOP strategists said his Florida record appeals to donors who oppose Newsom’s liberal policies, including the pandemic restrictions he introduced at the start of the crisis.

Gov. DeSantis brings a lot to the party in California compared to what we have here. Running a state with fewer taxes, fewer regulations is very appealing to many Californians, said Howard Hakes, chairman of the New Majority, the state’s largest Republican political action committee.

Hakes said DeSanti’s Florida administration is a stark contrast to Newsom.

When we look at the two states and put them side by side, especially during the pandemic, it was a lot easier to get things done in the state of Florida than it was in the state of California, Hakes said.

The two governors, both easily re-elected to a second term in November, are increasingly using each other as foils on issues such as abortion, immigration and education.

Newsom’s first general election campaign aired in Florida on July 4, urging residents of the state to either fight the DeSantis policy or move to California, where we still believe in freedom, freedom of speech, freedom to choose , freedom from hate and the freedom to love.

DeSantis responded by accusing Newsom of treating Californians like farmers because of the state’s pandemic lockdowns, and his spokesman said Newsom had turned the state into hell.

The conversation between the two men has since been carried over.

After battling immigration policy last year, DeSantis said Newsom’s hair gel interferes with his brain function. Newsom countered that they should confer: “I’ll bring my hair gel. You bring your hair spray.” Name the time before Election Day.

Times staff writer Vanessa Arredondo contributed to this report.