Gov. DeSantis will join former President Trump at GOP event in Orange County
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be a keynote speaker at the California Republican Party’s fall convention in Anaheim in late September.
The announcement of DeSantis’ visit comes just one day after the state party said former President Donald Trump would speak at a lunch on Friday, Sept. 29, during the fall gathering. The Flordia governor’s keynote speech is slated for a dinner that same day, the party said.
Related: Former President Trump will head to Orange County in September
“As Californians struggle under the weight of Democrats’ failed one-party rule, Gov. DeSantis has shown how a state can thrive under responsible, commonsense, conservative leadership,” said CAGOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson.
The fall convention is slated to take place at the Anaheim Marriott Hotel from Sept. 29 through Oct. 1.
DeSantis, like other GOP presidential hopefuls, has already visited Orange County. He headlined a Republican Party of Orange County event in March after visiting the Reagan Library in Simi Valley.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley visited Orange County for fundraising in June, and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, also of South Carolina, held a closed reception and town hall event in Newport Beach earlier this week.
So far, only Trump and DeSantis have been announced as speakers at the fall convention, but the California Republican Party has said more speakers will be announced “in the days and weeks to come.”
Just hours after the state party announced Trump’s attendance on Tuesday, he was indicted by the Justice Department for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump has remained the frontrunner in the Republican presidential contest this early on, including in California.
DeSantis’ campaign, on the other hand, has struggled to find its footing, and it fired more than a third of his original staff in recent weeks.
A June survey of likely California Republican voters found 50% said they would vote for Trump for president — that’s ahead of 24% who picked DeSantis, 6% for former Vice President Mike Pence and 5% for Scott.