Casey DeSantis is rebranding herself with a new agenda after her last platform, Hope Florida, became the subject of a criminal investigation – and behaving as though the fallout from that controversy is now behind her.
In recent weeks, she’s ramped up publicity around her Healthy Florida First initiative with the state’s surgeon general to test everyday foods for toxins and post the results online. This year, Casey DeSantis has made six public appearances touted by the governor’s office — already surpassing her appearances during the entire first quarter of last year when she was weighing a run to succeed her husband as governor.
That campaign never launched and the race to replace her term-limited husband is well underway.
But with late-emerging dark horses winning the last two Republican primaries for Florida governor, and Ron DeSantis now dismissing the Hope Florida criminal case as a “hoax,” Casey DeSantis’ reemergence is generating new buzz about what role she’ll play in her family’s political future.
“I don’t think she’s aspiring for anything politically, but she could do it if she wanted to. She’d be one of the best,” Miami-Dade County Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, a supporter of the first lady’s health initiative, told the Herald/Times on Friday. “She’d make a great governor one day.”
The governor’s aides began heavily promoting the first lady on social media this week as he claimed total exoneration in the Hope Florida case. He highlighted a report that federal prosecutors had declined to open an investigation into his administration’s use of a Hope Florida charity to steer millions of dollars from a state Medicaid settlement into a political committee fighting a recreational marijuana referendum.
A state criminal investigation remains ongoing, Leon County State Attorney Jack Campbell’s office told the Herald/Times last week. But the governor said Thursday during a Healthy Florida First press conference at Palm Beach State College that he had not “received anything” from the grand jury, and that the first lady had not been called to testify.
“Why would she have?” the governor said. He said the Hope Florida Foundation charity, created to support a state program by the same name to wean Floridians off welfare, had nothing to do with his wife, though she signed her name on the non-profit’s ceremonial checks. “She wasn’t involved in anything that they were alleging.”
The first lady, who was in attendance, didn’t address a question directed to her about the investigation.
Though Casey DeSantis was never accused of wrongdoing, she receded from the public spotlight after the state investigation began. She made just seven public appearances from April through December, according to press releases. She never stood up a campaign, or began fundraising. You’ll see no signs she is approaching donors, a prerequisite for any statewide run.
Should she reconsider, the Hope Florida controversy would remain a liability, said Sean Freeder, director of a polling lab at the University of North Florida. A UNF poll found over the summer that about two-thirds of Republican voters had not heard of the Hope Florida scandal, presenting it as easy pickings for any opponent.
Republican frontrunner Byron Donalds, a Naples congressman running with the president’s endorsement and more than $50 million at his disposal, can “easily get that information out,” Freeder said.
“As soon as she decides to run, he’s going to pound advertisements talking about Hope Florida,” he told the Herald/Times.
Freeder said his group will be conducting a follow-up poll this month that will include Casey DeSantis as a potential candidate, and will again include a question about Hope Florida. A poll released last month by longtime pollster Tony Fabrizio on behalf of the Donalds campaign found Donalds led Casey DeSantis 68% to 10% among Republican primary voters aware of President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Donalds.
While there are no hard indications that the first lady is still pursuing the job held by her husband, Casey DeSantis remains popular and is “beginning to reemerge,” said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at University of Central Florida.
“Not being indicted is a pretty low bar for a victory lap,” Jewett said. “But the news cycle moves on.”
Looking beyond the governor’s mansion, Jewett said the DeSantises could take cues from another political power couple: the Obamas. He noted that despite persistent encouragement from within the Democratic Party to run for office, former first lady Michelle Obama has maintained significant influence through advocacy and public engagement.
With bona fides in broadcast journalism, Casey DeSantis is well positioned to transition into an “influencer role,” Jewett said. The first lady’s Healthy Florida First initiative could lay the groundwork for a career in health activism, he said, “and there’s maybe a lot of good that could be done there.”
Jewett said he wouldn’t rule out a run for governor by the first lady, even at this late hour.
The last two winning gubernatorial candidates — Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott — were both dark horses who entered the primary race late when it had all but been called for a different Republican. They each had something valuable: Trump’s endorsement in DeSantis’ case, and great personal wealth in Scott’s.
Casey DeSantis doesn’t have either. But her high name ID does give her more time to make up her mind.
