Florida’s far-Right Republican governor Ron DeSantis spoke in Southern California over the weekend— kicking off a pre-election book tour and anti-leftism roadshow. DeSantis is undoubtedly preparing to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. In order to take on the juggernaut of Trumpism, he will need to court wealthy conservative donors and influential party elites across the United States and especially in California.
While traditionally considered a Democratic liberal stronghold— the largest number of 2020 primary votes for Donald Trump came from California. Crucially for DeSantis: California Republicans now tend to favor the Florida governor over former president Donald Trump in today’s primary matchup polls (so far)— a major departure from other state’s polling showing Trump as still the firm party favorite.
But “Super Tuesday” is still a year away. So let’s examine the deeper implications this visit and speech has on California and the rest of the country.