JOHNSTON, Iowa
CNN
—
In a packed barn of more than 100 attendees, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis drew laughter from the crowd as she recalled bringing her 5-year-old daughter with her to an event last year.
“All of a sudden, it’s Madison DeSantis who comes jogging back on stage, right? And you’re thinking, what’s going on? And I start having this tugging-tugging-tugging-tugging-tugging in my shirt sleeve. Right? You know what I needed ?I had to go to the bathroom, yes,” she said Thursday.
DeSantis appeared alone, speaking with an ease that underscored her former life as a prominent Florida news anchor. Although it was her first solo appearance on the campaign trail as her husband, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seeks the Republican presidential nomination, Casey DeSantis is no stranger to the runway.
She has been a pillar of her husband’s political career, amplifying his core message and combative rhetoric. In a crowded 2024 primary field where former President Donald Trump is the frontrunner, Casey DeSantis is seen by many in the Florida governor’s orbit as a powerful asset, stressing the importance of marriage and family. In contrast, former first lady Melania Trump and many of Trump’s children have been largely absent from their campaign appearances.
Casey DeSantis chose the key early voting state of Iowa to officially launch her national initiative, “Mamas for DeSantis,” aimed at mobilizing mothers to support her husband’s presidential bid. “We will launch the largest mobilization of mothers and grandmothers in the United States of America to protect the innocence of our children and protect the rights of parents,” he said. A source familiar with the matter said Casey DeSantis not only narrated the video announcing the initiative, but also wrote the script.
Shellie Flockhart, vice president of the Moms for Liberty chapter in Dallas County, Iowa, said she is torn between DeSantis and Trump but is drawn to the Florida governor’s family values.
“The parts where I think DeSantis is really strong is his family unit, his wife, Casey, he’s just very respectful of her. And he just loves her, you can tell. That’s very impressive and that she’s the greatest some of the time on the campaign trail with him,” she told CNN in Philadelphia last week at the Moms for Liberty national summit.
“That says a lot about what his wife thinks he is,” Flockhart added.
Florida’s first lady has frequently joined her husband at his campaign stops, most recently walking with him in two Fourth of July parades in New Hampshire with their children. At one point in the rain at the Merrimack parade, Casey DeSantis walked down the street with his young daughter Mamie on his back at one point. After the official launch of his campaign, swinging through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in early June, Gov. DeSantis turned the microphone over to his wife to deliver her own remarks in between speeches.
At an appearance in Bluffton, South Carolina, Casey DeSantis, a College of Charleston alumna, said she loves how her husband “isn’t afraid to take a beating.” Someone honked at one point in his remarks for a few seconds driving through the parking lot. “If that horn answers, to him, I’ll tell you he’s not backing down,” Casey DeSantis said.
The couple shared a stage at a campaign stop in Iowa and brought their children with them to Republican Sen. Joni Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” event in Des Moines. The DeSantis Campaign features Casey DeSantis in its campaign event promotions.
As a former local television reporter in Florida, Casey DeSantis is telegenic, media savvy and charismatic. She has been advising her husband, a former congressman who was recently elected to his second term as governor, on his media strategy.
After Politico magazine published an article in May about his wife: “The Casey DeSantis problem: ‘His greatest asset and his greatest liability.'” – the governor, who had not yet announced his candidacy for the presidency, defended their relationship.
“There are people who even criticize me, because my wife and I have a good relationship, we really get along and we trust each other. Imagine that,” Gov. DeSantis said in Florida Family Policy Council in Orlando. “We understand how important family is. We understand how important it is for parents in the state to be able to raise children in a healthy environment.”
During her event Thursday in Iowa, Casey DeSantis captivated the audience as she talked about things both personal and political: her family, her breast cancer diagnosis and her husband’s initiatives and policies in Florida.
“As long as I have breath in my body, I’m going to go out there and fight for Ron DeSantis. Not because he’s my husband, that’s part of it. But because I believe in him with every ounce of my being,” Casey DeSantis said.
“If you want somebody to go to Washington, D.C., to clean house, to be able to put this country back on track where we’re talking about our rights that come from our creator, and that our government is established to protect our rights that are ours, he is the man to do it,” he added.
“And if I have to cross this country, I will.”
