CASEY DESANTIS may just be the FLOTUS America needs, and Big Ron's ‘secret weapon’ is already making plans
MIAMI, FLORIDA: Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis was a clever middle-class youngster who attended Yale and Harvard Law before being moved by the movie 'A Few Good Men' to enlist in the Navy. His wife Casey was one of the most recognizable faces on Florida television as a gorgeous Jacksonville news anchor. Six months after initially meeting on a golf course, the pair became engaged, and they were married at the Walt Disney World Resort on September 26, 2009.
In the midterm elections, DeSantis defeated Democrat Charlie Crist by a margin of 19 points, the largest margin in a Florida governor's race in 20 years. If insiders, ex-staffers and former coworkers are to be believed, Casey, DeSantis' "ambitious and adept" wife, has her sights set on the White House which would also be the Governor's next step. Insiders claimed Casey, 42, was responsible for shaping her husband's success. Her influence has been compared to Nancy Reagan's influence over her husband, according to sources. She is widely regarded as his closest confidante, de facto staff member and a key driver behind his success, Daily Mail reported.
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As per the Daily Mail report, sources claimed that Casey was the force behind his spectacular rise and utilized her media expertise to refine his public image. Insiders told Vanity Fair that the ex-journalist was the "emotional tuning fork" that softened a man who former workers have called a "bully" with "the personality of a piece of paper." Even after a public cancer struggle that entered remission in March, Casey has continued to be as involved as ever, showing up to nearly all of her husband's campaign events and even returning his emails.
Casey has been involved ever since DeSantis launched his 2012 congressional campaign. She brought in two of the couple's young children in a television commercial during his first Republican primary run for governor in 2018, when DeSantis assisted one of the children to "build the wall" with multicolored blocks. Casey maintained a private office in the Tallahassee State Capitol during his first term as governor, New York Post reported.
In a recent campaign advertisement that ran during DeSantis' run for governor again, Casey sat cross-legged on a couch and spoke candidly about her battle with breast cancer in 2021 and 2022 as images of DeSantis from various points in his life display on the screen, including him holding a fishing pole, playing football, wearing a navy uniform and campaigning. She spoke while wearing jeans and a sweatshirt and with her long, straight hair pushed up from her face. "If you want to know who Ron DeSantis really is, he was the dad who took care of my children when I couldn't," she said, adding, “He was there to pick me off of the ground when I literally could not stand. He was there to fight for me when I didn’t have the strength to fight for myself."
Jill Casey Black, an equestrian champion and avid golfer who was born in Ohio in 1980, earned an economics degree from the College of Charleston in South Carolina before beginning her media career. When she met DeSantis, a navy officer, on a golf course at the University of North Florida, she was working as a news announcer and anchor at WJXT, an independent station in Jacksonville.
According to her LinkedIn profile, she was a reporter and anchor for the PGA Tour in 2010. DeSantis entered the Republican primary for Florida's 6th Congressional District three years after their wedding. With 39% of the vote, he defeated five other candidates. He won the congressional seat in November 2012 and returned to office in 2014 and 2016.
The publication, which spoke to hundreds of people familiar with DeSantis' political operations for a story on him that was published in September, quoted a former congressional staffer as saying that "the only person he listens to is ambitious and adept Casey." He told Fox News that Casey was "my best friend and best supporter."
Casey has long provided help in the background, but during Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida at the end of September and left 114 people dead and millions without electricity, she assumed a far more active position in the state. DeSantis appointed his wife as the state's disaster relief fund manager and she immediately set to work collecting funds and building a team of emergency volunteers. Under her direction, the Florida Disaster Fund raised a record-breaking $45M. She was spotted visiting the Coast Guard and standing behind her husband at press briefings discussing the storm's path while wearing a red fleece and trousers.