Florida Governor's First Lady Casey DeSantis Joins Husband in Hurricane Ian Recovery, Raises Millions in Reliefs

Florida Governor's First Lady Cassey DeSantis Joins Husband in Hurricane Ian Recovery, Raises Millions in Reliefs
In reaction to reports of prospective national ambitions, Ron DeSantis' wife Casey offers to help with Hurricane Ian response and relief efforts in Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

When speaking at a large press conference about the rescue operations underway after Hurricane Ian decimated his state, the governor of Florida did something he was not accustomed to doing, he stood away.

The well-known politician Ron DeSantis declared that his wife Casey DeSantis will head up the state's fundraising initiatives for hurricane recovery.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' Wife Leads Disaster Fund

Since her husband assumed the governorship of the state in 2019, Cassey DeSantis has maintained a relatively low profile up until this point. However, the hurricane has brought her to public attention because millions of people without electricity and many are thought to be missing or dead.

Casey DeSantis will be in charge of the state's catastrophe fund, which collaborates with governmental, non-governmental, and private donors to give communities financial support as they prepare for and recover from the hurricane.

She claimed that the state had raised more than $2 million in 24 hours during the press conference on Thursday. As the Sunshine State deals with one of the deadliest hurricanes in its history, this is a high-profile position.

For many years, Casey DeSantis was a well-known face in Florida as a well-liked television news reporter and commentator. When he was serving in the US Navy, she met her husband in 2010 on a golf course. The pair now has three children.

She said she had recovered from a breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year. Politicians seeking government frequently give their spouses a significant place in their campaigns in an effort to soften their image or present themselves as family-oriented.

President Joe Biden and Barack Obama both did this with Jill. A governor elevating his spouse to a prominent speaking position during emergency press briefings, as Ron DeSantis has done here, is a little less common when the state is in crisis.

However, it is noteworthy that Hurricane Ian struck just a few weeks before Florida voters will decide on Ron DeSantis' reelection, a contest that might place him among the front-runners for the Republican candidate for president in two years.

Ron DeSantis has the country's attention right now, and he can use it to make himself and his wife known to prospective voters outside of Florida, as per BBC.

Casey DeSantis, a Cancer Survivor

With many Republicans declaring they want to see the Florida governor run for president in either 2024 or 2028, the first couple of Florida have come to national attention. Some others have even said they prefer Ron DeSantis to former President Donald Trump as a contender.

The hurricane that DeSantis called a once in a 500-year occurrence, Hurricane Ian, has further elevated the pair to the national spotlight as attention has been focused on Florida since on Wednesday, the potent category 4 hurricane made landfall.

Ron DeSantis met his future wife while serving as a military officer at Naval Station Mayport. They wed in September 2010 and have three children together: Mason, Madison, and Mamie.

In October 2021, Governor DeSantis disclosed his wife's breast cancer diagnosis. He declared that she had been certified cancer-free on March 3, 2022, following treatment and surgery.

Two months after receiving the all-clear from cancer, Casey DeSantis joined her husband on the campaign trail by participating in what is known as 'DeSantis Day' in May in The Villages, a senior living community in Sumter County, Florida.

The second-highest number of newly diagnosed cancer cases is found in Florida. While Governor DeSantis hasn't precisely sided with President Trump, he also hasn't sided with anyone else either. In October 2018, the Florida first couple attended a Trump event in Estero, Florida, according to Daily Mail.

As the two leaders cooperate to deal with the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian, Ron DeSantis has set aside his political criticism of President Biden. The Republican candidate for president declined a Wednesday night offer to disparage Joe Biden while a storm raged across his state.

Known for being a bitter political rival, Ron DeSantis chose the high road when he said that when calamity strikes, leaders must put politics aside. The Trump personally spoke to DeSantis on Thursday, which he said was the fourth or fifth time they have spoken about Hurricane Ian, despite a Florida official's assertion that the death toll might be in the hundreds.

In his meetings with them as well as with the governor, Biden sent the same message to a number of Florida mayors: "We are here," according to the New York Daily News via MSN. The federal government is committed to helping with the clean-up and the rebuilding.

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