It had the hallmarks of a dynasty within the making. When Ron DeSantis was requested in February whom he wish to see succeed him as Florida governor when he’s termed out of workplace in 2027, his reply was unequivocal: his spouse, Casey.
“There’s no query about it,” he instructed a press convention in Tampa.
“She’s somebody who has the intestinal fortitude and the dedication of conservative rules that, you realize, something that we’ve completed, that she’d be capable of take to the subsequent degree.”
Now, storm clouds are swirling as Florida’s glamorous first lady, a detailed political adviser to her husband in addition to his loyal spouse, ponders whether or not to throw her hat within the ring.
A political initiative she based in 2021 to enhance welfare provision has grow to be mired in controversy over its charity wing’s failure to file required tax paperwork. There have additionally been probing questions from Florida Republicans over a “probably illegal” $10m donation from a authorized settlement to the state that was secretly directed to the charity – a few of which ended up within the palms of her husband’s political cronies.
It’s a scandal that some observers consider has the potential to sink her possible candidacy for the November 2026 gubernatorial election earlier than it even begins, or no less than provoke some soul looking within the DeSantis camp about how and when to launch it.
“That is actually her first take a look at of adverse publicity, and a few adverse consideration within the media, and we’ll see in the end how that performs out,” mentioned Michael Binder, professor of political science and public administration on the College of North Florida.
“I don’t know that it’s a demise knell for her candidacy. Rick Scott was a Medicare embezzler and it didn’t essentially stop him from not solely profitable a governor’s race twice, however getting elected to the Senate. So these items can move.
“However that being mentioned, none of that is nice for her. And press like this isn’t nice.”
Binder’s division performed a February ballot that confirmed Casey DeSantis with a 30% approval price total, rising to 57% among registered Republicans.
“She polled effectively a year-plus in the past as a result of she has some title recognition relative to the opposite candidates. I believe finally she’ll get into the race. However I definitely see this being a more durable race than most likely each events would possibly assume,” he mentioned.
It’s an unfamiliar place for Casey DeSantis, 44, one half of what some see because the fairytale couple of Florida politics since their Disney World wedding in 2009. A former tv information reporter with a compelling story, together with surviving breast most cancers, she has been her husband’s chief cheerleader, confidante and campaigner.
She was at his facet by his first election to Congress in 2012 and elevation to the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee six years afterward the again of a tweeted endorsement from Donald Trump.
As not too long ago as February, her personal star was shining brightly, whilst Florida’s Republican legislators began pushing back in opposition to Ron DeSantis’s dealing with of state affairs and agenda after six years as governor.
Donors were reportedly lining up to assist her potential candidacy. Sources instructed NBC Information that DeSantis noticed his spouse as a solution to maintain the governorship out of the palms of a few of these with whom he has been not too long ago feuding, together with the agriculture commissioner, Wilton Simpson, and one other former ally, the consultant Byron Donalds.
Then got here the hammer blow of Trump’s endorsement of Donalds, earlier than an alleged “kiss the ring” breakfast visit in March by each Ron and Casey DeSantis to the president’s West Palm Seaside golf membership. That was shortly adopted by the burgeoning charity scandal enveloping the Hope Florida Basis, a non-profit supporting Casey DeSantis’s flagship initiative to scale back authorities funding for welfare packages and exchange it with extra group and company enter.
The Tampa Bay Times discovered that the DeSantis administration secretly directed $10m to the charity from a $67m overbilling settlement final yr between the state’s company for well being care administration (AHCA) and the Medicare operator Centene. The route was in obvious contradiction of Florida legislation requiring such cash to be paid right into a belief or act as normal income for state legislators to spend.
It was subsequently revealed that two organizations that acquired cash from Hope Florida gave $5m every to political committees that supported Ron DeSantis’s in the end profitable efforts final November to defeat a poll modification calling for the legalization of leisure marijuana.
On Wednesday, the chief director of Hope Florida, Erik Dellenback, resigned, because the charity got here beneath heightening scrutiny.
The scandal has angered some senior Florida Republicans, together with the home speaker, Daniel Perez, and the state consultant Alex Andrade.
Perez mentioned it appeared DeSantis transferred the $10m to Hope Florida “within the useless of the evening” and has threatened subpoenas to get solutions; Andrade, chair of the home healthcare finances subcommittee, final week spent two hours questioning the DeSantis-appointed AHCA secretary, Shevaun Harris.
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“The reference to that $10m not being taxpayer {dollars} I discover offensive,” he mentioned, after Harris defined the cash was a “donation” by Centene to Hope Florida on high of the settlement, and due to this fact exempt from state legislation.
Andrade mentioned he believed the redirection of the cash was a DeSantis “coverage determination … that I consider was unlawful”.
Harris, who was appointed in February, claimed she was “ambushed” on the assembly, and has denied that AHCA did something fallacious. Florida’s legal professional normal, James Uthmeier, mentioned Hope Florida’s actions have been respectable.
On Monday, Ron DeSantis lashed out at his fellow Republicans, including extra warmth to a feud that has been simmering since legislators shut down his immigration proposals in January, then launched an inquiry into the DeSantis administration’s spending habits.
“Disgrace on you within the Florida home and your horrible conduct in management,” DeSantis instructed a press convention in Kissimmee, reported by Florida Politics.
The outlet mentioned the governor denounced “quite a lot of baseless assaults” and “manufactured smears in opposition to the primary girl and this system that’s Hope Florida”.
The subsequent steps for Casey DeSantis are unsure, however some observers consider the controversy has ended any hope she had of turning into solely the third girl, after Wyoming’s Nellie Tayloe Ross in 1925 and Alabama’s Lurleen Burns Wallace in 1967, to succeed her husband as a state governor.
“It’s clear, even at this level, that the Hope Florida scandal goes to kill her marketing campaign within the cradle,” Peter Schorsch, writer of Florida Politics, wrote in a post on X.
“She’s by no means gonna get again to the pristine place to begin she wanted to be at to run for governor.”
Frank Orlando, political science professor at St Leo College, mentioned Casey DeSantis had basically been caught up within the escalating dispute between her husband and state politicians, who’re making hay from the Hope Florida state of affairs.
“She’s been a comparatively in style first girl of Florida, and my feeling from speaking with legislators in Tallahassee is that it’s primarily a beef with Ron,” he mentioned.
“It’s simply discovering methods to choose fights, to undermine his authority. To the extent that Casey is concerned, it’s the truth that she can be in that wing of the occasion, and holding that banner. I don’t assume that is being carried out to undermine Casey as a lot as it’s saying to Ron: ‘We’ve been beneath your thumb for six years, and we’re not going to take it any extra.’”
