Ron DeSantis

Ron DeSantis
DeSantis in 2021
46th Governor of Florida
Incumbent
Assumed office January 8, 2019
Lieutenant	Jeanette Nuñez
Preceded by	Rick Scott
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 6th district
In office January 3, 2013 – September 10, 2018
Preceded by	Cliff Stearns
Succeeded by	Michael Waltz
Personal details
Born	Ronald Dion DeSantis (1978-09-14) September 14, 1978 Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Casey Black ​ (m. 2009)​
Children	3
Residence	Governor's Mansion
Education	Yale University (BA) Harvard University (JD)
Signature
Website	Official website
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	2004–2019
Rank	Lieutenant commander
Unit	Judge Advocate General's Corps United States Navy Reserve
Battles/wars	Iraq War
Awards	Bronze Star Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal Global War on Terrorism Service Medal Iraq Campaign Medal

Ronald Dion DeSantis (/dɪˈsæntɪs, diː-/; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving since 2019 as the 46th governor of Florida. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018.

Born in Jacksonville, DeSantis spent most of his childhood in Dunedin, Florida. He graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School. DeSantis joined the United States Navy in 2004 and was promoted to lieutenant before serving as a legal advisor to SEAL Team One. He was stationed at Joint Task Force Guantanamo in 2006, and was deployed to Iraq in 2007. When he returned to the U.S. about eight months later, the U.S. Department of Justice appointed DeSantis to serve as a Special Assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida, a position he held until his honorable discharge from active military duty in 2010.

DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012 and was reelected in 2014 and 2016. During his tenure he became a founding member of the Freedom Caucus and was an ally of President Donald Trump. DeSantis criticized Special Council Robert Mueller's investigation into allegations of "links and/or coordination" between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He briefly ran for U.S. Senate in 2016, but withdrew when incumbent senator Marco Rubio sought reelection. DeSantis won the Republican nomination for the 2018 gubernatorial election and narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum, in the general election by 0.4%.

As governor, DeSantis resisted taking many of the measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 that various other state governments implemented, such as face-mask mandates, stay-at-home orders, and vaccination requirements. During the pandemic, Florida experienced above-average economic growth. DeSantis cut state-government spending, which, combined with federal stimulus payments and high sales-tax revenue, led to the largest budget surplus in Florida history. He engaged in recovery efforts after Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole, and oversaw the passage of the controversial Parental Rights in Education Act. He was reelected in a landslide in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election; his 19.4% margin of victory over Charlie Crist was the state's largest in 40 years.

Following his successful reelection as governor, DeSantis announced on May 24, 2023, his bid for President of the United States in the 2024 United States presidential election, and is continuing to serve as governor during his campaign. He has written two books; Dreams From Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama was published before his first campaign for Congress in 2011, and The Courage to Be Free was published in 2023 before his presidential campaign.

Early life and education

DeSantis was born 46 years ago in Jacksonville, Florida, the son of Karen DeSantis (née Rogers) and Ronald Daniel DeSantis. His middle name, Dion, extols the singer Dion DiMucci, and his family name has different pronunciations. His mother's family name, Rogers, was chosen by her grandfather upon immigrating from Italy. All of DeSantis's great-grandparents immigrated from Southern Italy during the Italian diaspora. His parents and grandparents were born and grew up in western Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio.

DeSantis's mother worked as a nurse and his father installed Nielsen TV-rating boxes. They met while attending Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio, during the 1970s and moved to Jacksonville, Florida, during that decade. His family then moved to Orlando, Florida, before relocating when he was six years old to the city of Dunedin in Florida's Tampa Bay area. His only sibling, younger sister Christina, died in 2015 at age 30 from a pulmonary embolism. He was a member of the Dunedin National team that made it to the 1991 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. DeSantis attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School and Dunedin High School, graduating in 1997.

After high school, DeSantis studied history at Yale University. He was captain of Yale's varsity baseball team and joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He was an outfielder on that team; as a senior in 2001, he had the team's best batting average at .336. While attending Yale he worked a variety of jobs, including as an electrician's assistant and a coach at a baseball camp. DeSantis graduated from Yale in 2001 with a B.A., magna cum laude.

After Yale, he taught history and coached for a year at Darlington School in Georgia. He subsequently attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 2005 with a Juris Doctor, cum laude.

Military service

DeSantis as a Navy ensign c. 2005

In 2004, during his second year at Harvard Law, DeSantis was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy and assigned to the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG). He completed Naval Justice School in 2005. Later that year, he reported to the JAG Trial Service Office Command South East at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, as a prosecutor. He was promoted from lieutenant, junior grade to lieutenant in 2006.

In the spring of 2006, DeSantis arrived at Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), working directly with detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The records of his service in the Navy were often redacted upon release to the public, to protect personal privacy, according to the Navy. Mansur Ahmad Saad al-Dayfi, who was held at Guantanamo, alleged in 2022 that DeSantis oversaw force-feedings of detainees.

In 2007, DeSantis reported to the Naval Special Warfare Command Group in Coronado, California, where he was assigned as a legal adviser to SEAL Team One; he deployed to Iraq in the fall of 2007 as part of the 2007 troop surge. He served as legal adviser to Dane Thorleifson, the SEAL Commander of the Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah.

DeSantis returned to the U.S. in April 2008, reassigned to the Naval Region Southeast Legal Service. The U.S. Department of Justice appointed him to serve as a Special Assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida. DeSantis was assigned as a trial defense counsel until his honorable discharge from active duty in February 2010. He concurrently accepted a reserve commission as a lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the US Navy Reserve.

During his military career, DeSantis was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Iraq Campaign Medal. He was still serving in the U.S. Navy Reserve as of his transition to the governorship. His U.S. Navy service ended on February 12, 2019, a month after his gubernatorial inauguration, with the rank of lieutenant commander.

U.S. House of Representatives (2013–2018)

DeSantis's official portrait in the U.S. House of Representatives (c. 2013)

Elections

DeSantis defeated six candidates in the 2012 Republican primary for Florida's 6th congressional district, and defeated Democratic nominee Heather Beaven in the general election. He was reelected in 2014 and 2016.

In May 2015, DeSantis announced his candidacy for the 2016 United States Senate election in Florida. He ran for the seat held by Marco Rubio, who initially did not file to run for reelection due to his 2016 presidential campaign. DeSantis was endorsed by the fiscally conservative Club for Growth. When Rubio ended his presidential bid and ran for reelection to the Senate, DeSantis withdrew from the Senate race and ran for reelection to the House.

Tenure in Congress

DeSantis speaking at the Hudson Institute in June 2015

DeSantis signed a 2013 "No Climate Tax Pledge" against any tax hikes to fight global warming. He voted in favor of H.R. 45, which would have repealed the Affordable Care Act in 2013. DeSantis introduced a bill in 2014 that would have required the Justice Department to report to Congress whenever any federal agency refrains from enforcing laws. In 2015, DeSantis was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, a group of congressional conservatives and libertarians.

DeSantis opposes gun control, and received an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association. He has said, "Very rarely do firearms restrictions affect criminals. They really only affect law-abiding citizens."

DeSantis was a critic of Obama's immigration policies, including deferred action legislation (DACA and DAPA), accusing Obama of failing to enforce immigration laws. In 2015 he co-sponsored Kate's Law, which would have increased penalties for aliens who unlawfully reenter the U.S. after being removed. DeSantis encouraged Florida sheriffs to cooperate with the federal government on immigration-related issues.

In 2016, DeSantis introduced the Higher Education Reform and Opportunity Act, which would have allowed states to create their own accreditation systems. He said this legislation would also give students "access to federal loan money to put towards non-traditional educational opportunities, such as online learning courses, vocational schools, and apprenticeships in skilled trades".

In 2016, DeSantis received a "0" rating from the Human Rights Campaign on LGBT-related legislation. Two years later, he told the Sun-Sentinel that he "doesn't want any discrimination in Florida, I want people to be able to live their life, whether you're gay or whether you're religious."

DeSantis was present before the June 2017 congressional baseball shooting, and the perpetrator asked him whether the players were Republicans. Later that summer, DeSantis proposed legislation that would have ended funding by November of that year for the Mueller investigation of President Trump. He said that the May 17, 2017, order that initiated the probe "didn't identify a crime to be investigated" and was likely to start a fishing expedition.

DeSantis supports a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress, so that U.S. representatives would be limited to three terms and senators to two. He served three terms in the House of Representatives, retiring in 2018 to run for governor.

Congressional committees

During the 114th United States Congress, DeSantis served on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and chaired its Subcommittee on National Security. He also served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Judiciary Committee, and the Republican Study Committee, along with several subcommittees of those.

Fiscal policy in Congress

DeSantis has said that the debate over how to reduce the federal deficit should shift emphasis from tax increases to curtailing spending and triggering economic growth. He has supported a "no budget, no pay" policy for Congress to encourage the passage of a budget resolution. DeSantis endorsed the REINS Act, which would have required that regulations significantly affecting the economy be subject to a vote of Congress before taking effect. He has also supported the idea of auditing the Federal Reserve System.

DeSantis called for IRS commissioner John Koskinen's resignation for having "failed the American people by frustrating Congress's attempts to ascertain the truth" about alleged IRS targeting of conservatives. He co-sponsored a bill to impeach Koskinen for violating the public's trust. He criticized IRS employee Lois Lerner and asked that she testify in front of Congress. The Citizens Against Government Waste, a conservative think tank, named DeSantis a "Taxpayer Superhero" in 2015. He is a past supporter of eliminating the federal income tax and the IRS, and co-sponsored legislation to replace them with a national sales tax called the FairTax.

In 2015, he introduced the Let Seniors Work Act, which would have repealed an incentive to retire instead of keep working and would have exempted senior citizens from the 12.4 percent Social Security payroll tax; he also co-sponsored a measure to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits. According to PolitiFact, it is "half true" that DeSantis voted to cut Social Security and Medicare and voted to increase the retirement age, because those votes were on non-binding resolutions that would not have become law even if passed, and because the objective was to stabilize those social programs to avoid steeper cuts later.

DeSantis sponsored the Transportation Empowerment Act, which would have transferred much of the responsibility for transportation projects to the states and sharply reduce the federal gas tax. He has opposed legislation to require online retailers to collect and pay state sales tax. He voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, saying the bill would bring a "dramatically lower tax rate", "full expensing of capital investments", and more jobs to America.

DeSantis opted not to receive his congressional pension, and filed a measure that would eliminate pensions for members of Congress. After introducing the End Pensions in Congress Act, he said, "The Founding Fathers envisioned elected officials as part of a servant class, yet Washington has evolved into a ruling class culture."

Gubernatorial campaigns

2018 gubernatorial candidacy

Main article: 2018 Florida gubernatorial election

2018 election results map by county

On January 5, 2018, DeSantis filed to run for governor of Florida to succeed term-limited Republican incumbent Rick Scott. President Trump had said the previous month that he would support DeSantis should he run for governor. During the Republican primary, DeSantis emphasized his support for Trump by running an ad in which DeSantis taught his children how to "build the wall" and say "Make America Great Again". Asked whether he could name an issue on which he disagreed with Trump, DeSantis declined. On August 28, 2018, DeSantis won the Republican primary, defeating his main opponent, Adam Putnam.

DeSantis's gubernatorial platform included support for legislation that would allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry firearms openly. He also supported a law mandating the use of E-Verify by businesses and a state-level ban on sanctuary city protections for undocumented immigrants. DeSantis promised to stop the spread of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee. He expressed support for a state constitutional amendment to require a supermajority vote for any tax increases. DeSantis opposed allowing able-bodied, childless adults to receive Medicaid. He said he would implement a medical cannabis program, while opposing the legalization of recreational cannabis.

The day after his primary win, in a televised Fox News interview, DeSantis said, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state". His use of the word "monkey" received widespread media attention, and was interpreted by some, including Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo, as a racist dog whistle alluding to the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Andrew Gillum, who is African-American. DeSantis denied the racism charge. Dexter Filkins, writing in The New Yorker in 2022, called it a "disastrous gaffe", and quoted an unnamed ally of DeSantis lamenting that afterward, "We were handling Gillum with kid gloves. We can't hit the guy, because we're trying to defend the fact that we're not racist."

The general election was "widely seen as a toss-up". Some sheriffs endorsed DeSantis, while other sheriffs backed Gillum. DeSantis was endorsed by the Florida Police Chiefs Association. On September 5, he announced state representative Jeanette Núñez as his running mate. He resigned his House seat on September 10 to focus on his gubernatorial campaign. The same month, he canceled a planned interview with the Tampa Bay Times to have additional time to put together a platform before an in-depth policy interview. On election night, initial results had DeSantis winning, and so Gillum conceded. Gillum rescinded his concession when the margin narrowed to 0.4 percent, and an automatic machine recount began with a November 15 deadline. Although three counties missed the deadline, it was not extended. DeSantis was confirmed as the winner and Gillum conceded on November 17.

2022 gubernatorial candidacy

Main article: 2022 Florida gubernatorial election

2022 election results map by county

In September 2021, DeSantis announced he would run for reelection. On November 7, he filed the necessary paperwork to officially enter the race. In the general election, he faced Democratic nominee Charlie Crist, a U.S. representative and former Florida governor. Crist heavily criticized DeSantis's decision to deport illegal immigrants to Democratic states, arguing that it was human rights abuse. During an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News, Crist called DeSantis "one of the biggest threats to democracy".

The gubernatorial debate was held on October 23, and the candidates exchanged attacks. At one point, Crist asked DeSantis whether he would serve a full four-year term, in relation to talk about a potential DeSantis campaign for president in 2024. DeSantis responded, "the only worn-out old donkey I'm looking to put out to pastures is Charlie Crist". DeSantis mentioned that Crist promised in his 2006 gubernatorial campaign that he would not raise taxes, but when elected signed a large increase in taxes and fees. He also criticized Crist's role as U.S. representative, saying that during 2022, Crist showed up for work for only 14 days.

DeSantis won the November 8 election in a landslide, with 59.4 percent of the vote to Crist's 40 percent; it was the largest margin of victory in a Florida gubernatorial election since 1982. Significantly, DeSantis won Miami-Dade County, which had been a Democratic stronghold since 2002, and Palm Beach County, which had not voted Republican since 1986. Crist conceded the election shortly after DeSantis was projected as the winner. At DeSantis's victory rally, supporters chanted "two more years" at various times rather than the common "four more years" to show support for DeSantis for president in 2024.

Governor of Florida (2019–present)

DeSantis became governor on January 8, 2019. He has generally governed as a conservative.

DeSantis with Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Chief Finance Officer Jimmy Patronis, and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried in 2019

On January 11, three days after taking office, DeSantis posthumously pardoned the Groveland Four, a group of black men falsely convicted of rape in 1949. The same day, he officially suspended Broward County sheriff Scott Israel, ostensibly for his responses to the mass shootings at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, appointing Gregory Tony to replace Israel.

In his first two weeks in office, DeSantis appointed Barbara Lagoa, Robert J. Luck, and Carlos G. Muñiz to fill the three vacancies on the Florida Supreme Court, shifting the court's judicial philosophy toward originalism, which in effect would shift the judiciary to the right. Also in January 2019, he signed an executive order calling for the end of the nationwide K-12 educational standards initiative, Common Core, in Florida.

After the 2020 Republican National Convention was pulled from its originally scheduled host city, Charlotte, DeSantis campaigned to have Florida be the new host state. The main festivities of the RNC, including Trump's keynote speech, were relocated to Jacksonville. Ultimately, the entire event was scrapped in favor of rallies online and on television because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2021, DeSantis signed a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to allow it to offer statewide online sports betting. In its 2021 session, the Florida legislature passed DeSantis's top priorities. During his tenure, DeSantis has had a generally smooth relationship with the legislature, which enacted many of his proposals.

COVID-19

See also: COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and COVID-19 pandemic in Florida

President Donald Trump and Governor DeSantis discuss COVID-19 at the White House in April 2020

DeSantis with Vice President Mike Pence in Orlando, May 2020

During 2020 and 2021, scientists and media outlets gave mixed reviews of DeSantis's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. From March 2020 through March 22, 2023, Florida had the 12th-highest rate of cases and deaths per 100,000 people among the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, without adjusting for the age of Florida's large and vulnerable elderly population. Florida's age-adjusted death rate, which takes its disproportionately elderly population into account, was roughly near the median among states—though one study placed it at the nation's 12th lowest. By 2023, many political scientists acknowledged that DeSantis's management of the pandemic may have benefited him in his reelection campaign, and he was credited with turning "his coronavirus policies into a parable of American freedom".

Pandemic in 2020

DeSantis meeting with soldiers at a COVID-19 testing site in Orange County

By March 11, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) concluded that community spread of the pandemic had occurred within Florida. After considering the matter for a few weeks, on April 1 DeSantis issued an executive order to restrict activities within the state to those deemed essential services. By June, he had adopted a more targeted approach, declaring in mid-June:

We're not shutting down, we're gonna go forward, we're gonna continue to protect the most vulnerable...particularly when you have a virus that disproportionately impacts one segment of society, to suppress a lot of working-age people at this point I don't think would likely be very effective.

That approach was similar to the one recommended a few months later in the Great Barrington Declaration. DeSantis got vaccinated for COVID-19, and expressed enthusiasm for people getting vaccinated, but has opposed requiring it.

In early June, DeSantis partially lifted his stay-at-home order, lifting restrictions on bars and cinemas; the same day he lifted the restrictions, Florida recorded the largest case surge in six weeks. DeSantis rejected the implementation of a statewide face mask mandate, and let his stay-at-home order implemented in April expire. He announced that he would reinstate some restrictions on business activity in late June to halt the virus's spread, but said Florida is "not going back" on reopening the economy, arguing that "people going to a business is not what's driving" the surge in cases. On September 25, Florida lifted all remaining capacity restrictions on businesses, while also prohibiting local governments from enforcing public health orders with fines, or restricting restaurants to less than 50 percent capacity. DeSantis urged public health officials in Florida cities to focus less on universal COVID-19 testing and more on testing people experiencing symptoms.

DeSantis favored reopening schools for in-person learning for the 2020–21 school year. By October, he announced all 67 public school districts were open for in-person learning.

According to the CDC, life expectancy during 2020 dropped in Florida to 77.5 years from 79 years in 2019; that fall of 1.5 years in Florida was less than the nationwide fall of 1.8 years. Both the statewide and nationwide falls in life expectancy were "mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increases in unintentional injuries", with the unintentional deaths mostly attributed to drug overdoses.

Pandemic in 2021

DeSantis in Tampa speaking to students, July 2021.

By February 2021, DeSantis had generally positive approval ratings, ranging from 51 to 64 percent. That same month, the Biden administration mulled imposing travel restrictions on Florida and other domestic locations to prevent further spread of COVID-19, and DeSantis pledged to oppose any effort "to shut FL's border". In March 2021, Politico called DeSantis the nation's most "politically ascendant" governor, as his controversial policies had been at that point "short of or even the opposite of ruinous", while Florida had "fared no worse, and in some ways better, than many other states".

DeSantis's initial rollout of vaccines in early 2021 gave rise to various complaints about favoritism toward campaign contributors and discrimination against communities that were predominantly Democratic, poor, or inhabited by ethnic and racial minorities. DeSantis denied the alleged favoritism, defended his handling of the rollout, and pointed toward many vaccines distributed in underserved communities.

By April 2021, Florida was 27th out of 50 in both cases and deaths per capita. In May 2021, DeSantis rescinded the state of emergency and all COVID-19-related public health orders, statewide. The same day, he signed a bill into law that prohibited businesses, cruise ships, schools, and government entities from requiring proof of vaccination for use of services. Amid a July resurgence in new infections, DeSantis banned public schools from implementing mask mandates and thus left mask-wearing up to the students' parents, though he advised them against it because "it's terribly uncomfortable for [children] to do it; there's not very much science behind it." Later in 2021, his executive order about masking was superseded by a new state statute that he signed accomplishing the same thing.

By August 2021, amid a record in new cases within the state, Florida had become the state with the highest per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19. DeSantis disputed President Joe Biden's assertion that Florida was not doing enough to combat the pandemic. He also argued that Biden was allowing COVID transmission across the southern U.S. border. The Washington Post reported that this claim was based on "guesswork and assumptions, not evidence", while PolitiFact reported that COVID-19 hot spots tend to be clustered far from the border, in places with low rates of public vaccination, not along the southern border, as would be expected if migrants were driving the surge in cases.

DeSantis continued to take COVID-related actions during the rest of 2021, including penalizing local government vaccine mandates, appointing like-minded physician Joseph Ladapo as Florida's surgeon general, and recruiting out-of-state police officers to relocate and work in Florida, including officers who sought to avoid vaccine requirements in their home states. Ladapo, a signer of the Great Barrington Declaration, had a history of promoting unproven treatments for COVID-19, opposing COVID-19 vaccine requirements, and questioning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.

In November 2021, DeSantis signed into law a legislative package that made Florida the first state to impose fines on businesses and hospitals that require COVID-19 vaccination without exemptions or alternatives.

Pandemic in 2022 and 2023

DeSantis meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in 2023

Florida saw fast economic growth in 2022 and 2023, together with a record state budget surplus. In June 2022, DeSantis decided against ordering COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5, making Florida the only state not to preorder vaccines for that demographic.

In January 2023, DeSantis announced a proposal to permanently ban COVID-19 mandates in Florida. The proposal includes a permanent ban of mask requirements throughout the state, vaccine and mask requirements in schools, COVID-19 passports in the state, and employers hiring or firing based on COVID-19 vaccines.

Education

On September 14, 2021, DeSantis announced that Florida would replace the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) test with a system of smaller tests scattered throughout the year. He said there would be three tests, in the fall, winter and spring, each smaller than the FSA. Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran agreed with the decision, calling it a "huge victory for the school system". The new system is to be implemented by the 2022–23 school year.

In March 2021, DeSantis proposed legislation to impose restrictions and stricter requirements for Florida universities to collaborate with Chinese academics and universities; he said this would crack down on economic espionage by China. DeSantis signed two such bills in June.

Critical race theory in schools

In June 2021, DeSantis led an effort to ban the teaching of critical race theory in Florida public schools (though it had not been part of Florida's public school curriculum). He described critical race theory as "teaching kids to hate their country", mirroring a similar push by conservatives nationally. The Florida Board of Education approved the ban on June 10. The Florida Education Association criticized the ban, accusing the board of trying to hide facts from students. Other critics claimed the ban was an effort to "politicize classroom education and whitewash American history".

On December 15, 2021, DeSantis announced a new bill, the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act ("Stop WOKE Act"), which would allow parents to sue school districts that teach critical race theory. The bill is designed to combat "woke indoctrination" in Florida businesses and schools by preventing instruction that could make some people feel they bear "personal responsibility" for historic wrongdoings because of their race, gender or national origin, preventing instruction that teaches that people are "inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously", and preventing instruction that teaches that groups of people are oppressed or privileged based on their race, gender or national origin. He said of the bill, "No taxpayer dollars should be used to teach our kids to hate our country or hate each other." On August 18, 2022, a Florida judge blocked the act, saying that it violates the First Amendment and is too vague.

LGBT issues in schools

Further information: LGBT rights in Florida § Education

On June 1, 2021, DeSantis signed the Fairness in Women's Sports Act (SB 1028). It bans transgender girls and women from participating and competing in middle-school and high-school girls' and college women's sports competitions in Florida. The law took effect on July 1.

In February 2022, DeSantis voiced his support for the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act (HB1557), commonly known as the "Don't Say Gay" law, which would prohibit discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in school classrooms from kindergarten to grade 3. He said it was "entirely inappropriate" for teachers and school administrators to talk to students about their gender identity. DeSantis signed the bill (House Bill 1557) into law on March 28, 2022, and it took effect on July 1. This statute also includes a provision "requiring school district personnel to encourage a student to discuss issues relating to his or her well-being with his or her parent or to facilitate discussion of the issue with the parent", and does not limit such issues to sexual orientation or gender identity. As of March 2023, DeSantis was considering further similar legislation for all grades. On April 19, the state board of education extended the act's restrictions on classroom instruction to grades 4-12, unless the instruction is required by existing state standards or is part of an elective course on reproductive health.

The Walt Disney Company, owner of Walt Disney World in Florida, called for the law's repeal, beginning a dispute between Disney and the state government. In April 2022, DeSantis signed a bill eliminating the company's special independent district and replacing its Disney-appointed board of overseers. He also threatened during a press confrence to build a new state prison near the Disney World complex. On April 26, 2023, Disney filed suit against DeSantis and several others, accusing them of retaliating against protected speech.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Florida

During his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, DeSantis pledged to lower corporate income taxes to 5 percent or lower. During his tenure, corporate income taxes in Florida got as low as 3.5 percent in 2021, but by 2022 they had increased to 5.5 percent. DeSantis has maintained Florida's low-tax status during his time as governor. In June 2019, DeSantis signed a $91.1 billion budget the legislature passed the previous month, which was the largest in state history at the time, though he cut $131 million in appropriations. In June 2021, he signed a $101.5 billion budget that included $169 million in tax relief.

Throughout most of 2019, Florida's unemployment rate hovered below 5 percent. During the COVID-19 lockdown in early to mid-2020, Florida, and most other states, saw unemployment rates near 15 percent. DeSantis partially blamed his gubernatorial predecessor, Rick Scott, for leaving behind a dejected unemployment system that created backlogs as COVID-19 damaged the state economy. Afterward, Florida's economy swiftly started recovering, and the unemployment rate fell below 7 percent by the latter half of 2020. In December 2020, DeSantis ordered the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity to extend unemployment waivers until February 27, 2021. Since May 2022, Florida's unemployment rate has sat around two percent, below the national average.

As a result of a significant increase in gasoline prices, on November 22, 2021, DeSantis announced that he would temporarily waive Florida's gasoline tax in the next legislative session, in 2022.

In March 2023, fact-checkers at PolitiFact said it would be misleading and mostly false to say in present tense that DeSantis wants to raise the retirement age to 70, because he has walked back that position he took ten years earlier. His current stance is that "we're not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans".

Immigration

In June 2019, he signed an anti-"sanctuary city" bill into law. Florida had no sanctuary cities before the law's enactment, and immigration advocates called the bill politically motivated.

Florida became the 12th state to adopt legislation requiring local governments to aid federal immigration-enforcement efforts. In June 2020, DeSantis signed a bill requiring government employers and private companies that contract with the government to use E-Verify. He had originally called for all employers to be required to use it. A few years later, he signed into law an expansion of E-Verify and other immigration laws.

In 2021, DeSantis halted cooperation with the Biden administration's program to relocate and resettle migrants in Florida in the wake of a surge in illegal immigration. DeSantis's administration also allocated $12 million for relocating migrants to other states.

In September 2022, after similar actions by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, an agent of DeSantis recruited 50 newly arrived asylum seekers, mostly from Venezuela, in San Antonio, Texas, and flew them via two chartered planes to the Crestview, Florida airport, where they did not debark, then proceeded to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. The migrants filed a class-action suit against DeSantis, calling his treatment of them "extreme and outrageous, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community."

In May 2023, DeSantis announced plans to send over a thousand personnel to Texas, including National Guard troops. Their mission will be to help Texas stem the influx of illegal immigration across the southern border.

Hurricane Ian

President Joe Biden and Governor DeSantis greet each other in Fort Myers for a briefing on response and recovery efforts after Hurricane Ian.

Further information: Hurricane Ian

DeSantis was widely praised for the state's response to Hurricane Ian — the deadliest hurricane to hit Florida in over 85 years. In September 2022, DeSantis declared a state of emergency for all of Florida as Ian approached and asked for federal aid ahead of time. On October 5, after Ian deserted Florida, President Biden arrived in Florida and met with DeSantis and Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott. DeSantis and Biden held a press conference in Fort Myers to report on the status of the cleanup. In addition, DeSantis partnered with Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Inc., to use the Starlink satellite Internet service to help restore communication across the state.

First lady Casey DeSantis partnered with State Disaster Recovery Mental Health Coordinator Sara Newhouse and the Department of Health and Department of Children and Families to deploy free mental health resources to communities Ian affected.

Abortion

Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, DeSantis pledged to "expand pro-life protections". On April 14, 2022, he signed into law a bill that regulates elective abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy; under the previous law, the limit had been 24 weeks. The law includes exceptions for abortions beyond 15 weeks if it is necessary to avert "serious risk" to the pregnant woman's physical health or if there is a "fatal fetal abnormality", but does not make exceptions for rape, human trafficking, incest, or mental health.

The law was expected to go into effect on July 1, but a state judge blocked its enforcement, ruling that the Florida Constitution guarantees a right to privacy that renders the law unconstitutional. After DeSantis appealed the ruling, the law went into effect on July 5, pending judicial review. In January 2023, the Supreme Court of Florida agreed to hear a legal challenge to the law.

In March 2023, DeSantis said in a press conference of SB300, which bans abortions after six weeks with exceptions to 15 weeks for rape and incest: "I think those exceptions are sensible. We welcome pro-life legislation." Floridian physicians have expressed concern about the bill; most major medical societies such as AMA, ACOG, and AAP consider abortion essential and life-saving health care, but SB300 will make providing abortion punishable by up to five years in prison. DeSantis signed the bill into law on April 14, 2023.

Gun law

After the 2018 Parkland high school shooting, DeSantis expressed support for hiring retired law enforcement officers and military veterans as armed guards for schools. He disagreed with legislation Governor Rick Scott signed that banned bump stocks, added a mandatory three-day waiting period for gun purchases, and raised the legal age for purchases from 18 to 21. He has expressed support for measures to improve federal background checks for purchasing firearms and has said that there is a need to intervene with those who exhibit warning signs of committing violence instead of waiting until a crime has been committed.

In November 2020, DeSantis proposed an "anti-mob" extension to the preexisting stand-your-ground law in Florida that would allow gun-owning residents to use deadly force on people they believe are looting. It would also make blocking traffic during a protest a third-degree felony and impose criminal penalties for partaking in "violent or disorderly assemblies".

On April 3, 2023, DeSantis signed HB 543 into law, which allows Florida residents to carry concealed handguns without a permit. The law will go into effect on July 1, 2023.

Law enforcement

DeSantis at a pro-law enforcement rally in Staten Island.

DeSantis opposes efforts to defund the police, and as governor has introduced initiatives to "fund the police". In September 2021, he introduced a $5,000 signing bonus for Florida police officers in a bid to attract out-of-state police recruits.

In April 2021, DeSantis signed into law the Combating Public Disorder Act he had been advocating. Aside from being an anti-riot statute, it forbade intimidation by mobs; penalized damage to historic properties or memorials, such as downtown Miami's Christopher Columbus statue, which was damaged in 2020; and forbade publishing personal identifying information online with intent to harm. DeSantis had argued for this legislation by citing the George Floyd protests of 2020 and the 2021 United States Capitol attack, although only the former was mentioned at the signing ceremony. Several months after the signing, a federal judge blocked the portion of the law that introduced a new definition of "riot", calling it too vague.

On May 5, 2021, DeSantis announced that all Florida police officers, firefighters, and paramedics would receive a $1,000 bonus.

On December 2, 2021, DeSantis announced that as part of a $100 million funding proposal for the Florida National Guard, $3.5 million would be allocated to the reactivation of the Florida State Guard, a volunteer state defense force that had been inactive since 1947.

Environment

Further information: Climate change in Florida and Plug-in electric vehicles in Florida

DeSantis has called himself a "Teddy Roosevelt conservationist". During his 2018 gubernatorial run, he said that he did not deny climate change's existence, but did not want to be labeled a "climate change believer", adding, "I think we contribute to changes in the environment, but I'm not in the pews of the global warming left."

DeSantis signed an executive order in 2019 that included a variety of components relating to the environment. These included a promise to spend $2.5 billion over four years on restoring the Everglades and "other water protection", and the creation of a Blue-Green Algae Task Force, an Office of Environmental Accountability and Transparency, and a Chief Science Officer. He also replaced the entire South Florida Water Management District board.

On July 10, 2020, DeSantis announced that Florida would spend $8.6 million out of $166 million received by the state from a legal settlement between Volkswagen and the United States Department of Justice relating to emission violations to add 34 charging stations for electric cars. The stations would be along Interstates 4, 75, 95, 275 and 295. On June 16, 2021, DeSantis signed into law House Bill 839, which bans local governments in Florida from requiring gas stations to add electric car charging stations.

On June 21, 2021, DeSantis signed into law House Bill 919, which prohibits local governments from placing bans or restrictions on any source of electricity. Several sizable cities in Florida at that time (Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Dunedin, Largo, Satellite Beach, Gainesville, Sarasota, Safety Harbor and Miami Beach) were setting goals to get all their energy from renewable sources. The bill was described as similar to those in other states (Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arizona and Oklahoma) that passed laws preventing cities from banning natural gas hookups. DeSantis also signed a bill incentivizing wildlife corridors.

Voting rights and elections

DeSantis expressed support for the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative after it passed in November 2018, saying he was "obligated to faithfully implement [it] as it is defined" when he became governor. After he refused to restore voting rights for felons with unpaid fines, which voting rights groups said was inconsistent with the referendum's results, he was challenged in court. The Florida Supreme Court sided with DeSantis on the issue, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit also sided with DeSantis in a 6–4 ruling.

In April 2019, DeSantis directed Florida's elections chief to expand the availability of Spanish-language ballots and Spanish assistance for voters. In a statement, DeSantis said, "It is critically important that Spanish-speaking Floridians are able to exercise their right to vote without any language barriers."

In June 2019, DeSantis signed a measure that would make it harder to launch successful ballot initiatives. Petition-gathering for ballot initiatives to legalize medical cannabis, increases to the minimum wage, and expansion of Medicaid were also under way. DeSantis instructed Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to investigate whether Michael Bloomberg had criminally offered incentives for felons to vote by assisting in a fundraising effort to pay off their financial obligations so they could vote in the 2020 presidential election in Florida. No wrongdoing was found.

In February 2021, DeSantis announced his support for several election law restrictions. He called for eliminating ballot drop boxes and limiting voting by mail by requiring that voters re-register every year to vote by mail and that signatures on mail-in ballots "match the most recent signature on file" (rather than any of the voter's signatures in the Florida system). The changes to mail-in voting were notable given that Republicans had historically voted by mail more than Democrats, but Democrats outvoted Republicans by mail in 2020. According to a Tampa Bay Times analysis, DeSantis's signature match proposal could have led to rejections of his own mail-in ballots due to changes in his signature history over time; voting rights experts argued that the signature matching proposal could be used to disenfranchise voters whose signatures varied over time.

Technology companies

On February 2, 2021, DeSantis announced support for legislation to crack down on Big Tech and prevent alleged political censorship.

In response to social media networks removing Trump from their platforms, DeSantis and other Florida Republicans pushed legislation in the Florida legislature to prohibit technology companies from de-platforming political candidates. A federal judge blocked the law by preliminary injunction the day before it was to take effect, on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment and federal law. When Twitter suspended DeSantis administration critic Rebekah Jones' account for violating rules against spam and platform manipulation, DeSantis's office applauded the decision, calling it "long overdue".

DeSantis supported Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, believing it could offer a more supportive environment for conservative ideas.

Capital punishment

Main article: Capital punishment in Florida

As governor, DeSantis has overseen the executions of five inmates, all of them convicted murderers. In 2022, DeSantis criticized the life sentence jurors imposed on the Parkland high school shooter, as opposed to the death penalty. In that case, nine jurors supported a death sentence, but three blocked it. In April 2023, DeSantis signed a law (Senate Bill 450) that allows juries to impose a death sentence if at least eight of the 12 jurors agree. In May 2023, DeSantis signed a law allowing those convicted of raping a child under 12 years old to receive the death penalty, defying and setting up a "challenge" to the Supreme Court decision Kennedy v. Louisiana.

2024 presidential campaign

Main article: Ron DeSantis 2024 presidential campaign

Further information: 2024 United States presidential election and 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries

Campaign logo for DeSantis

Between 2020 and 2023, various notable people urged DeSantis to run for president in the 2024 election. In September 2021, he called 2024 speculation "purely manufactured". In April 2023, he said, "I am not a candidate, so we'll see if and when that changes"; at that time, Trump was leading DeSantis in polls for the Republican nomination, but DeSantis was performing better than Trump in battleground polling of the general election.

In a straw poll conducted at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, DeSantis came in second with 28 percent of the vote, behind Trump, who received 59 percent. Since 2022, DeSantis has been increasingly seen as a contender for the Republican nomination. Various writers have predicted that he could defeat Trump or said that he is preferable to Trump in view of the January 6 hearings and subsequent straw polls. These ideas gained more traction after the 2022 midterm elections, when DeSantis was reelected governor by almost 20 percentage points, while Trump-endorsed candidates, such as Mehmet Oz in the Senate race in Pennsylvania, performed poorly. The release of DeSantis's memoir, The Courage To Be Free, and subsequent book tour, also increased 2024 speculation.

On May 24, 2023, DeSantis officially launched his bid for president. His bid for the presidency was announced over Twitter, with assistance from its owner, Elon Musk.

Personal life

Ron and Casey DeSantis in January 2019

DeSantis met his wife, Casey Black, on a golf course at the University of North Florida. She had been a television host for the Golf Channel, and then a television journalist and news anchor at WJXT. They married on September 26, 2009, in a chapel at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. DeSantis is Catholic, and the marriage was officiated by a Catholic priest.

The couple lived in Ponte Vedra Beach, near St. Augustine, until it was drawn into the neighboring 4th congressional district. They then moved to Palm Coast, north of Daytona Beach, which remained in the district he represented: the 6th. They have three children.

He is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. In 2022, DeSantis appeared on the Time 100, Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

DeSantis is not wealthy compared to other national politicians. As of May 2023, his assets included $105,755 in a thrift savings plan, $30,302 in the Florida Retirement System, a $134,181 governor's salary, and $235,000 in a USAA account. He has free housing at the Florida Governor's Mansion, and about $21,000 in student loan debt. At the end of 2021, he reported a net worth of $318,987.

Electoral history

Main article: Electoral history of Ron DeSantis

Publications

• DeSantis, Ron (2011). Dreams from Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama. Jacksonville: High-Pitched Hum Publishing. ISBN 978-1-934666-80-7.
• DeSantis, Ron (2023). The Courage to Be Free. Broadside Books. ISBN 978-0063276000.

External links

• Official Florida Governor website
• Campaign website
• Template:Curlie
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Ron DeSantis at Ballotpedia