Casey DeSantis, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s media-savvy wife, has been dubbed everything from his “secret weapon” to “the power behind the throne” to “his biggest liability.”
The stylish 42-year-old former TV news journalist, breast cancer survivor, and mother of three made headlines Tuesday when she launched her husband’s highly awaited presidential candidacy in 2024.
However, her attractiveness, political activity, and reputed “vindictiveness” have long been a driving factor in the Republican Party’s climb to prominence.
Here’s everything to know about Florida’s first lady.
What’s Casey DeSantis’ career history?
Earlier in her career, the Ohio native presented Golf Channel programming such as “On The Tee” and “PGA Tour Today” before earning a reporting position at WJXT in Jacksonville, Fla.
She began her career as a crime reporter, morning presenter, and anchor at the independent station before going on to special assignments, including for CNN.
In 2014, she presented the roundtable discussion show “The Chat” on Jacksonville station WTLV. She created “The JT Townsend Story,” an award-winning documentary on the crippled high school football hero, two years later.
At the age of 38, the elegant mother of three became the youngest woman to serve as Florida’s first lady in 2019.
Earlier in her career, the Ohio native presented Golf Channel programming such as “On The Tee” and “PGA Tour Today” before earning a reporting position at WJXT in Jacksonville, Fla.
She began her career as a crime reporter, morning presenter, and anchor at the independent station before going on to special assignments, including for CNN.
In 2014, she presented the roundtable discussion show “The Chat” on Jacksonville station WTLV. She created “The JT Townsend Story,” an award-winning documentary on the crippled high school football hero, two years later.
At the age of 38, the elegant mother of three became the youngest woman to serve as Florida’s first lady in 2019.
Behind the scenes, the couple is so “in sync” politically, they’ve developed an almost “singular identity,” according to a source that worked with the couple during his congressional run in 2015. She advises him on everything from media appearances to policy, sources have said.
“In shaping him, in driving him … it’s different,” one veteran Republican lobbyist told Politico.
“[She’s] unlike any first lady in my extended memory,” said Tallahassee fixture Mac Stipanovich.
How many kids does she have?
Casey and Ron DeSantis have three children together — Madison, 6, Mason, 4, and Mamie, 2.
Who are Casey and Ron DeSantis’ kids?
Madison, the couple’s eldest child, appears in a 2018 DeSantis campaign ad highlighting Donald Trump’s backing of DeSantis for governor of Florida.
The next year, they baptized their middle kid, Mason, in the Florida governor’s home using water allegedly retrieved from the Sea of Galilee during a vacation to Israel.
What has Casey DeSantis been criticized for?
Former DeSantis staffers and insiders have bashed Casey DeSantis as “paranoid” and “vindictive,” while a Trump operative compared her to “Lady Macbeth.”
One DeSantis supporter insisted that she needs to “take a more traditional role,’’ according to the Politico profile, which calls her the politician’s “greatest asset and his greatest liability.”
“He’s a vindictive motherf–ker. She’s twice that,” said a higher-up, who worked on one of his campaigns. “She’s the scorekeeper.”
What’s the story of her personal life?
Jill Casey Black was born in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1980, to an ophthalmologist father and a speech pathologist mother.
According to the Independent, she attended the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where she participated on the equestrian team and obtained a bachelor of science in economics with a minor in French.
She met Ron DeSantis on a golf hole at Naval Station Mayport, and the pair married in Disney World in 2009 — a location the Florida governor has subsequently described as “ironic,” given his ongoing spat with the entertainment giant.
