Florida governor Ron DeSantis has consistently polled in second place among the 2024 GOP presidential candidates, putting him in direct competition with Donald Trump.
As US president, Mr Trump campaigned for Mr DeSantis’s election in 2018 but the men have since become enemies, with the former regularly attacking his rival with childish nicknames on social media and at rallies.
Mr DeSantis rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic through his opposition to social restrictions and has since marketed himself as a younger, less complicated party figurehead than Mr Trump, winning admirers on the right with his regressive policies on LGBT+ rights in Florida’s schools.
The men will fight for the GOP nomination against the likes of Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy and Larry Elder, with Mr Trump’s ex-vice president Mike Pence also competing in the race.
As Mr DeSantis campaigns across the US , interest will inevitably turn towards his personal life and that of his wife, Casey DeSantis, as prospective US first lady.
Jill Casey Black was born on 26 June 1980 in Zanesville, Ohio, the daughter of Robert Black and Jeanne Caponigro. Her father is an optometrist and ex-US Air Force officer and her mother is a speech pathologist, the daughter of a Sicilian immigrant.
She graduated from the historic College of Charleston in South Carolina, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a minor in French and competed on the equestrian team.
After graduating, she went on to become a television host, initially on the Golf Channel programmes On The Tee and PGA Tour Today.
She first met Mr DeSantis on a golf course – he serving as an officer in the US Navy at the time – and the couple married in September 2009, their wedding taking place at Walt Disney World Resort, which the groom admits is now “kind of ironic” given his bitter disputes with the Walt Disney Corporation as governor.
While her husband entered the political arena, Ms DeSantis continued her media career by becoming a local news anchor with WJXT in Jacksonville, Florida, working in various roles including as a morning presenter and crime reporter.
From there, she hosted the roundtable discussion show The Chat on Jacksonville stations WTLV and WJXX. Other lifestyle programmes she has presented include First Coast Living and The American Dream and she is also known as the producer of The JT Townsend Story, an award-winning documentary about the high school football star.
Ron and Casey DeSantis have three small children together: five-year-old Madison, four-year-old Mason and two-year-old Mamie, the latter said to be the first baby to be born in the Florida governor’s mansion in more than half a century.
As the state’s first lady, Ms DeSantis has been involved in such projects as the Hope Florida initiative – promoting economic self-sufficiency – and Resiliency Florida, a scheme to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health in professional sport.
In October 2021, it was announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, although she confirmed the following March that treatment had been successful and that she was now cancer-free. She has since dedicated herself to raising awareness of the disease.
Casey and Ron DeSantis meet Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida during their visit to Tokyo in April 2023— (Kimimasa Mayama/AP)
According to a profile of Ms DeSantis published by Politico – and since angrily denounced as a “hit piece” by The Nation – the couple are said to be so close as to be known collectively as “The DeSanti”, with the first lady taking it upon herself to “humanise the robot” (Mr DeSantis has a reputation for being something of an awkward communicator) and to influence her husband’s policy positions.
“She is both his biggest asset and his biggest liability,” donor Dan Eberhart told the publication. “And I say biggest asset in that I think she does make him warmer, softer.
“But he needs to be surrounded with professional people, not just her. I’ve heard from staffers frustrated that they think the governor’s made a decision, he talks to her, comes back, the decision is the opposite or different.”
He added: “The sad part is I think she’s very smart. I think she’s very talented. But she also needs to realise if they want to play on this stage, they need serious help.”
