Republican donors apparently just can’t get enough of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In fact, they’re so enamored with the socially awkward racist that they want his reign of terror to continue past his term limit. And how do they plan to do that? By having his wife, Casey DeSantis, run to succeed him.
According to NBC News, the idea that Casey could replace her husband is quickly gaining steam. Casey, a poorly dressed mainstay on her husband’s campaign trail, has not yet commented on whether she’d run.
“I would say this: I have heard donors have been urging her to run and that while it’s not something she has wanted to do, they are causing her to at least stop and listen,” a source familiar with her thinking said.
Should Casey enter the 2026 Republican primary, which is not yet a given, it would have significant ripple effects across the country and possibly set up a proxy war between Ron and his frenemy President Donald Trump.
There’s the added wrinkle that Casey isn’t the only Republican noodling with running for Florida’s next governor. Florida’s Rep. Byron Donalds and disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz are also toying with taking a shot at the gubernatorial seat, and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson could jump in the race.
Casey DeSantis
Casey, 44, was born in Ohio and later graduated from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Before marrying Ron, she was a news anchor; in 2003, she got a job at WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida, where she was a weekend and morning news anchor, among other things.
In 2010, she left for a short stint with the PGA Tour broadcast before joining the Jacksonville TV program “First Coast Living.” According to the Washington Post, she left TV altogether in 2018 to help her husband run for governor—where he squeaked out a win over his Democratic competitor.
The fact that donors are reportedly pushing Casey to run suggests they aren’t too jazzed about Donalds, Gaetz, or Simpson. And that makes sense, considering at least two of them are essentially extensions of Trump. Casey, meanwhile, could be her own person while in office (a la Hillary Clinton), or this might just be a roundabout way of keeping Ron in the governor’s mansion after his time is up.
“It is a real possibility,” another source familiar with the situation told NBC News, though they noted that they don’t know yet whether it’s a “probable scenario.”
This isn’t the first time such discussions revolving around Casey have gained traction. She briefly addressed the prospect in May, saying that it was a compliment to her husband that people wanted her to run for office.
“I will tell you this: When people talk about me running for governor, I think it speaks highly about the governor himself. “I think when people see me, it is because they are so happy about everything that this governor has done for the state of Florida,” she said on the Conservative Review podcast. “When people start talking about ‘Oh, you know, you should run,’ that’s because Gov. DeSantis is a rock star, and that’s because people are so proud of everything that he’s done for this state.”
But it makes some sense that Casey would be seen as a possible successor. After all, the breast cancer survivor and mother of three has spearheaded at least four major initiatives since her husband was elected, according to the Daily Beast.
Former GOP Rep. David Jolly of Florida told Politico that Casey was “every bit as involved in Ron’s rise as Ron is himself.”
A source told NBC News that Ron is seemingly behind his wife’s running for governor, despite once saying that she had “zero” interest in the role.
It appears he’s since changed his mind. The source said Ron sees Casey’s possible entrance into the race “as his best opportunity to set future leaderships for the state and prevent a Simpson or Donalds governorship.”
That’s probably because Ron doesn’t want one of Trump’s cronies to hold his seat, especially given their past. Ron challenged Trump last year for the Republican presidential nomination, at which he failed miserably after being savaged by Trump’s campaign. At the time, it was clear that Trump took credit for Ron’s 2018 gubernatorial win and saw his run for president as a betrayal.
It got so bad between the two that “Ron DeSanctimonious” became one of the many nicknames Trump used against Ron during the primary season, which ended for Ron after he had a poor showing in Iowa.
Moving forward, Ron said he plans to have a hands-on role in the 2026 governor’s race, which has left some political onlookers wondering who he might support—or if he might throw his weight behind his wife.
“She’s going to run. I think at this point most see that,” a source told NBC News. “There is a lot to be worked out, but at this point, the rumors are not just that—it’s feeling very real.”
Campaign Action
