California’s 5.2 million registered Republican voters could play an outsize role in the Republican presidential primary when they select a presidential candidate next March. The primary offers a prime moment of influence for voters who are often sidelined in the politics of the heavily Democratic state.

DeSantis will travel to California next week for a sold-out event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. After that talk, the governor is scheduled to headline a fundraiser for the Republican Party of Orange County. The county is a former Republican stronghold that has shifted purple in recent years and will host multiple frontline House races in 2024.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has relentlessly attacked DeSantis, using the Florida governor as a foil for California progressivism — a focus that underscores DeSantis’ position at the center of national Republican politics.

Harris could face a tough path to the presidency if Biden does not seek another term. The poll found a majority of California voters are unenthusiastic about the notion of Harris running in 2024 should Biden bow out — an increasingly unlikely scenario, with First Lady Jill Biden telling the Associated Press on Friday that the president had “pretty much” decided to run again. The vice president showed more strength among Democratic voters, a majority of whom said they were enthusiastic about a possible Harris campaign.

Those California headwinds echo Harris’s humbling 2020 campaign. After an ebullient campaign launch in Oakland, Harris slid behind non-Californian candidates in polls that indicated an inability to consolidate support in her home state. She dropped out before California voted.