By Lara Korte and Dustin Gardiner

Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low plans to troll Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by hiring a mobile advertising truck to circle the California Republican Party’s 2023 fall convention in Anaheim. | Courtesy Eddie Kirby.

THE BUZZ — Republicans are contending with some high-stakes questions ahead of 2024 — and they’re all going to be laid bare this weekend in Southern California.

Delegates are enroute to Orange County, where they’ll pack into ballrooms and banquet halls down the road from Disneyland for the California Republican Party’s fall convention.

Combined with the presidential debate in Simi Valley on Wednesday, this week is a rare moment of relevance for the party that is so often pushed to the margins in Democratic-dominated California. The next three days will shed some light on where the GOP is heading as it ramps up for 2024.

THE TRUMP FACTOR: The hottest ticket of the weekend is a spot to see former President Donald Trump deliver lunchtime remarks today. Even at $600 a pop, party officials say they’re expecting 1,500 people to attend. The former president will have to share the spotlight with other candidates, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are also scheduled to speak at the convention.

Trump is still popular with Republicans in California, and his nomination appears for now to be a foregone conclusion. His presence may cause friction as some delegates look to broaden their appeal to voters.

HEADACHES IN THE HOUSE: As our colleague Melanie Mason writes today, this weekend presents a conundrum for candidates in vulnerable congressional districts who are wary of being bogged down by the national party and Trump. It’s a dilemma for the party in a year where maintaining control of California’s House seats is critical if Republicans — and Speaker Kevin McCarthy — want to stay in power.

PLATFORM: As we wrote about Thursday, tempers are expected to flare this weekend in a fight over how the California GOP defines itself. Factions are warring over whether to stay true to their conservative roots or try to appeal to a broader audience by cutting out major planks like opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — TROLL LEVEL 1,000: Democrats are rolling out a welcome wagon of their own for the convention — one that blasts DeSantis for flying migrants to California under dubious pretenses.

Assemblymember Evan Low, a Democrat from Silicon Valley, told Playbook that he’s rented a mobile advertising truck to circle outside the convention hall displaying an LED billboard that reads, “Hey Governor DeSantis. Asylum is legal, fraud is a crime.” The truck will also play a video of Low, Newsom and other officials denouncing the migrant flights.

In the video, Low says DeSantis lured 36 migrants onto “planes with false promises of shelter, jobs and food in California.” He adds, “They were then flown into Sacramento and dumped like garbage.”

Low’s office said he’s paying for the ads and a related website, investigateron.com, using campaign funds. The ad truck is scheduled to circle the convention hall today and tomorrow. The assemblyman has also introduced a resolution calling for the U.S Department of Justice to investigate DeSantis.

The Florida governor has accused Democrats of exacerbating problems at the U.S.-Mexico border by creating “sanctuary jurisdictions.”

PLAYBOOK TIP LINE — Are you going to the CA GOP convention? See or hear something interesting? Give us a ring or drop us a line.

Now you can text us at ‪916-562-0685‬‪ — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts now.

Or drop us a line at [email protected] and [email protected], or on Twitter —@DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte 

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

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Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., speaks during a House Oversight Committee impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. | AP

IMPEACHMENT BLOWBACK — Rep. Robert Garcia, among the most vocal Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, blasted Republicans on the panel as they opened their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden with a focus on his family business.

“Our job is to make sure to call out every single lie and to push for the truth, which is that there's zero evidence linking the president to any sort of wrongdoing,” Garcia told Playbook during a break in Thursday’s hearing. “This is about [Republicans] getting back and winning an election and all of Donald Trump's lieutenants are here doing that work for him.”

Republicans leading the charge stood by their decision to pursue the issue. “The American people demand accountability for this culture of corruption,” House Oversight Committee chair James Comer said.

The Biden White House is regularly in touch with Democratic members on the Hill regarding the GOP’s impeachment push, and Garcia has emerged as a chief Biden defender on impeachment and other issues.

The White House echoed Garcia’s calls, with a spokesperson on Thursday accusing Republicans of wasting hours “peddling debunked lies,” and pointed to the GOP’s own witness in the hearing acknowledging there was no evidence Biden personally benefited from foreign payments to members of his family, including son Hunter Biden.

But Garcia also took his case a step further, laying into California Republican House members who support the impeachment inquiry and contending that they will pay a price politically with voters come next year’s elections. Specifically, Garcia focused on the nearly half-dozen GOP members who represent districts carried by Joe Biden in 2020.

“These are folks that are toeing the party line and essentially are following Kevin McCarthy's lead. And he is following Marjorie Taylor Greene’s lead,” Garcia said. These California Republicans in Biden's seats — they're vulnerable and they've done nothing to appeal to independents. When the time comes, we're going to remind voters across these districts that these folks want to impeach the president for no reason with zero evidence.”

— Christopher Cadelago 

WEIGHING IN ON MENENDEZ — Sen. Alex Padilla isn't rushing to join the majority of his Democratic colleagues in calling for the resignation of Sen. Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who has been indicted on bribery charges.

Padilla, who co-chaired the Senate’s first Hispanic-Serving Institutions Caucus in 2021 alongside Menendez, told reporters Wednesday that he was “angry and disappointed” about the indictment, calling the charges “serious and profoundly concerning.”

“He’s lost the trust of those he serves alongside in his home state and now the majority of his Democratic colleagues here in the Senate,” Padilla said. “I urge him to deeply consider what's best for the people of New Jersey and the Senate as an institution.”

But when asked by POLITICO Thursday if he would call on Menendez to resign, he avoided the question. “I issued my statement yesterday,” he said, referring to comments to reporters the previous day.

Other top California officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have called on Menendez to resign.

— Sejal Govindarao

Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of the first episodes in September – click here.

FLOOD BARONS: This year’s epic flooding in the Tulare Lake Basin of the Central Valley occurred in an area controlled by longtime farming clans. Those land barons have a unique ability to make secretive decisions about how to manage floodwaters without the oversight and transparency of a publicly governed body. (Los Angeles Times)

GUNMAKERS OUT: Newsom recently signed a raft of progressive gun-safety measures into law, including the first statewide firearm and ammo tax in the country. Now, gun manufacturers are questioning whether it’s becoming too burdensome to do business in the state. (CalMatters)

TRANSITIONS — Maria Clayton is leaving her post as Communications Director at the California Department of Education to become Chief Strategy Officer at Davis Joint Unified School District.

BIRTHDAYS — OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap ... (was Thursday): Warren Lieberfarb

CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here.

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