Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis closed out the first day of the California Republican Party’s fall convention by contrasting what he sees as successes with his state versus the policies in California.

DeSantis, one of four Republican presidential hopefuls tapped to speak to Republicans in Anaheim this weekend, mostly stuck to cultural and public safety issues as he addressed about 400 attendees in a 30-minute address Friday night.

Related: At California Republican event, it’s former President Donald Trump who stars

Speaking to an audience that looked noticeably different from Trump’s — less MAGA hats and more formal and cocktail attire appropriate for a dinner event — DeSantis cracked a joke about his proximity to the Disney theme parks.

“I’m a little close to Disneyland — I didn’t know if they would let me come here,” he said, referring to the Disney-DeSantis political feud that started when he signed legislation last year that bans teachers from talking about sexual identification and gender identity in some elementary schools in Florida.

DeSantis drew the strongest applause and reactions — including from law enforcement who stood near the room’s entrances — when he touched on parental rights in education, an issue currently sensitive to many California parents as several local school districts debate policies like those that ban pride flags or would inform parents if their child may be transgender.

DeSantis said Florida parents have the right to know what is being taught to their children, attempting to draw a contrast between statewide education policies in his state and California.

“You as an adult can knock yourself out with adult material, but leave our kids alone,” DeSantis said.

Like Trump, DeSantis criticized California’s Democratic leaders — like Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris, a former U.S. senator — and its policies. He contrasted what he described as negatives in California, like the economy and parental involvement with school curriculum, with positives in Florida.

“Our country is in a state of decline — economic decline, cultural decline, military decline,” said DeSantis. “The California model reflects more American decline.”

But Trump drew a much larger crowd earlier Friday with at least 1,500 people in the hotel ballroom where he spoke and still others in an overflow room.

More than 400 people attended DeSantis’ dinner speech — across the hall from where Trump was earlier in the day — where they dined on steak and salad. And that included his wife, Casey DeSantis.

DeSantis and Trump have often clashed on the campaign trail during the primary.

“I’m the one who turned Florida red,” Trump said.

DeSantis responded Friday night: “I understand that one of my residents was here earlier saying that he turned Florida red. … I just wish if he had turned Florida red that he wouldn’t have turned Georgia and Arizona blue.”

And earlier Wednesday, while at a campaign event at the Los Angeles Harbor Grain Terminal in Long Beach, DeSantis called out Trump for not being at the second Republican presidential primary debate, saying he is “missing in action” and should be on the stage.

DeSantis, while in Anaheim Friday night, touted his upcoming debate with Newsom in November. The red vs. blue state debate will be moderated by Fox News’ Sean Hannity and broadcast on his primetime show on Nov. 30.

Ahead of his speech, Orange County Republican Party Chairman Fred Whitaker gave the invocation, in which he said that California needs DeSantis’ message and that Florida is doing so much better than “our own state.”

Huntington Beach resident Charlotte Christiana, 91, attended the convention Friday and said she is supporting DeSantis because he is “pro-life,” touts “family values” and supports “closing the border.”

And Kevin McGary, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of California, said that while he will back Trump this cycle, DeSantis would make “an excellent choice for president at some point in time.”

“He’s an excellent, excellent Florida governor,” McGary said. “DeSantis 2028, I could certainly support.”

“It’ll take him a year, maybe two, before he actually has the capacity to look at what’s happening with the global issues, and we don’t have that time,” McGary added. “Trump is the guy, and he’s the only guy.”

DeSantis is polling far below Trump among California Republican likely voters, according to recent data from the Public Policy Institute of California. Of those surveyed, 48% said they would vote for Trump if the primary were held now, while 14% picked DeSantis.

On Friday morning, throngs of Trump supporters lined the intersections outside the Anaheim Marriott, home of the convention, many of them wearing red, white and blue and waving “Make America Great Again” flags.

As a counter to Trump’s Friday appearance in Anaheim, the Democratic parties of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties had a Monopoly-inspired “Trump: Go Directly to Jail” rally of their own at the Anaheim Convention Center Grand Plaza.

But by the time DeSantis spoke, around 8 p.m., demonstrators had largely cleared out — and the governor noticed. “Where are the protesters,” he said.