By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2025-03-21 18:31:18 | Updated at 2025-03-22 01:26:31
6 hours ago
OXON HILL, Maryland — Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis got candid about his wife’s gubernatorial ambitions Friday, when he told a conservative gathering she is plenty capable of carrying his legacy into the future after he leaves office.
“She would be as conservative or more conservative than me,” the 46-year-old DeSantis said of wife Casey during National Review’s Idea Summit at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center outside Washington, DC.
Casey DeSantis, 44, is reportedly looking to cement her spouse’s political dynasty in the Sunshine State, with a University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab poll last month showing her with a 57% favorability ranking among state GOP voters — the highest of any potential primary contender ahead of the 2026 governor’s race.
Florida’s first lady also heaped praise on her hubby, who is term-limited and will leave office in January 2027, when asked by National Review senior political correspondent Jim Geraghty whether she’d given any thought to a gubernatorial bid.
“This guy’s the GOAT [Greatest of All Time],” Casey said. “I’ve been around politics, and I’ve seen a lot of people — not a lot of people have a backbone like him.”
“I have to just applaud him because all of what he has done is extremely fragile, right?” she said. “You could get somebody in and all of this revert back.”
Casey then added: “It’s the long winded answer of saying, you know, we’ll see.”
Sources close to the first lady spilled to The Post in February that the race for a third DeSantis term in Tallahassee — with Casey becoming the first female chief executive in Florida’s history — “has always been in the plans.”
“She’s as ambitious as he is,” one source said. “They’ve always seen themselves as a new emerging political power couple. She is considering a run and is talking to a lot of different people about the possibilities. She wants it very much.”
President Trump has already endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), the only declared candidate in the GOP contest, giving him an advantage in the state that went for the 47th president by 13 percentage points in 2024.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who has been at odds with DeSantis over immigration policy, is also rumored to be in the running.
Earlier in the discussion, Ron DeSantis divulged that the late right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh had once told him “she should be governor” after seeing Casey, a former Golf Channel host and Jacksonville-area news anchor, speak at an event.
Then-Casey Black met Ron DeSantis on a golf course at Naval Station Mayport, and the two were married at Disney World in 2009 — an awkward fact given her husband’s future war against the House of Mouse over its opposition to his education agenda.
Casey DeSantis also laid into other politicians who she said backtrack on their principles once they enter office.
“They get into office; they want to do good things; they don’t want to get criticized; they like a cocktail parties, you know, they think about what’s next on the next political rung in their career,” she said Friday. “The Founders never thought that politics should ever have been a career, right?”
The governor’s wife sat center stage at the venue and fielded other questions from Geraghty about reducing government spending, as well as establishing a cancer research program and associated fund for those seeking treatment in her state.
The power couple also delved into their favorite Florida activities, with Casey DeSantis teasing: “You know what I like doing? Hunting pythons in the Everglades.”
