Ron DeSantis was born in Jacksonville, Florida on September 14, 1978. The DeSantis family moved to Dunedin in central Florida when he was young, so he spent most of his childhood there. The family has a strong working-class background. His mother worked as a nurse, and his father installed rating boxes for Nielsen Media Research.
Ron DeSantis was a talented baseball player, and his Little League team played in the 1991 Little League World Series. Although they didn’t win, the experience gave him a lot of confidence. He later attended Yale, where he played on the university varsity baseball team and had the team’s best batting average during his senior year.
After graduating from Yale, DeSantis spent a year teaching history and sports at Darlington School, a boarding school in Rome, Georgia.
Soon, DeSantis decided to pursue a law degree from Harvard Law School. He graduated at the top of his class (cum laude) in 2005.
DeSantis used his law degree to join the Navy as a commissioned officer and was assigned to SEAL Team One, where he provided legal services.
He continued serving the federal government as a Special Assistant Attorney at the Middle District of Florida’s US Attorney’s Office. He was honorably discharged in 2010 but remains active in the US Navy Reserve.
DeSantis began his political career in 2012 when he ran for – and won – a seat in the US House of Representatives.
Ron DeSantis’s Wife
Ron DeSantis met his wife, Casey, on a golf course in Florida. At the time, he was a naval officer at Naval Station Mayport.
Casey DeSantis was born Casey Black in Troy, OH on June 26, 1980. She earned a BS in economics from the College of Charleston.
She then began a career in television. During her television career, she worked for the Golf Channel, where she hosted two shows, PGA Tour Today and On the Tee.
She later held several positions, including morning anchor and newscaster, at Jacksonville station WJXT. She has worked on special reports for CNN.
Other shows she has worked with include:
- The Chat, a round table panel discussion show that aired in Jacksonville.
- First Coast Living, a daily talk show.
- The American Dream, a program that focused on entrepreneurs.
As a writer and producer, she created the documentary Champion, The JT Townsend Story.
Casey DeSantis turned her attention away from television when she became the First Lady of Florida after Ron DeSantis became governor in 2019.
She has spent much of her time working on issues related to hurricane recovery, algae blooms in Florida waters, establishing a relationship with Venezuela, and mental health.
She won the First Lady’s Medal for Courage, Commitment, and Service in 2019 for her efforts addressing the destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian.
Casey and Ron DeSantis have three children. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, but she announced that she was in full remission in early 2022.
Ron DeSantis’s Approval Rating
Ron DeSantis enjoys one of the country’s highest approval ratings.
After Hurricane Ian, his approval rating jumped from 53% to 63%. That high approval rating likely helped him win the 2022 FL governor’s race by a wide margin.
Winning 59.4% of the vote, he easy won the election against Charlie Crist, who received 40% of the votes.
What Religion Is Ron DeSantis?
DeSantis identifies as a Roman Catholic, which is also President Joe Biden’s religion.
Still, a lot of evangelical Christians back him and his positions. Some of those positions include:
- Limiting access to abortions, especially for fetuses 15 months and older.
- Limiting the role government plays in slowing climate change. (DeSantis says he isn’t a climate-change denier, but he thinks human activities influence the climate less than commonly believed.)
- Opposing gun control.
- Adding armed guards to schools.
- Opposing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
- Increasing penalties for undocumented immigrants.
- Providing additional funding to police departments.
- Banning transgender girls and women from participating in Florida sports competitions at the middle-school, high-school, and college levels.
- Prohibiting schools from covering topics related to gender identity and sexual orientation.
- Prohibiting technology companies, especially social media companies, from deplatforming politicians.
- Imposing term limits on Congress and House members.
Ron DeSantis’s Net Worth
It’s difficult to determine Ron DeSantis’s precise worth because he doesn’t have to release information about all of his assets. Some people who follow his career estimate that he has a net worth of about $350,000.
That amount, however, likely doesn’t include the sale of his st. John’s County home. He sold the property for $460,000 when he moved into the governor’s mansion. Then again, most of that money could have gone to repaying the home’s mortgage.
Of course, his personal worth doesn’t include the money raised to support his political campaigns. Records show that his 2022 gubernatorial campaign raised more than $214 million. He he runs for president in 2024, which seems likely, his campaign could attract considerably more money.
How Did Ron DeSantis Make His Money?
Ron DeSantis made most of his money by working for the US Navy and Florida government.
As governor, he receives an annual salary of $134,181. The job also comes with access to plenty of free assets and services. For example, his family gets to live in the governor’s mansion as long as he holds the position.
Friends of Ron DeSantis
Friends of Ron DeSantis is a political action committee (PAC) dedicated to promoting DeSantis’s 2022 campaign for governor. The organization receives donations from thousands of people. It even lists the names and addresses of donors, but does not disclose the amount they donate.
Friends of Ron DeSantis also generates money by selling merchandise, including shirts that feature the image of an alligator and the words “don’t tread on Florida.” It’s a Florida-centered version of the Gadsden Flag, which shows a snake and the words “don’t tread on me.” The organization’s store also sells jackets, beer coozies, and onesies for babies.
Will Ron DeSantis Be President?
Rumors say that DeSantis will run for President of the United State in 2024, aiming to take office in January of 2025. However, he has not officially announced his intention to run. During his more recent reelection campaign, he failed to answer questions about whether he would abandon his seat as Florida’s governor to become POTUS.
Many political commentators believe that DeSantis will run for office. First, he would need to win a nomination from the Republican National Convention (RNC). If he decides to run, he will likely face competitors like:
- New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu
- Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
- Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who switched her party affiliation to Republican in 2022
- Texas Senator Ted Cruz
- South Carolina Senator Tim Scott
- Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin
- Former Governor of Indiana and US Vice President Mike Pence
- Former President Donald Trump
Former President Donald Trump announced his bid to become the Republican nominee in November of 2022. Recent disagreements between Trump and DeSantis made headlines, even though they once supported each other publicly.
Trump referred to DeSantis as “Ron DeSanctimonious.” The former president is known for using nicknames to belittle his opponents. For example, he referred to Marco Rubio as “Little Marco” during the 2016 presidential campaign. The nickname was obviously an attempt to insult the senator’s height. Rubio is approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall, the average height of men in the US.
Even if DeSantis doesn’t run for president in 2024 – or doesn’t receive the GOP’s nomination – he has plenty of opportunities to run again in the future. At just 44 years old, he likely has another 30 or 40 years of political service ahead of him.
#1 Stock For The Next 7 Days
When Financhill publishes its #1 stock, listen up. After all, the #1 stock is the cream of the crop, even when markets crash.
Financhill just revealed its top stock for investors right now... so there's no better time to claim your slice of the pie.
See The #1 Stock Now >>The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Financhill has a disclosure policy. This post may contain affiliate links or links from our sponsors.