Florida governor can’t count on hometown support, despite his past baseball glory
Desantis will return to his roots to kick-off his rallies but may struggle to win over former neighbours
IN THE small town of Dunedin on Florida’s gulf coast Ron Desantis’s parents still live in the modest brick bungalow where the future presidential candidate grew up.
His father, Ron Desantis Sr, doesn’t answer the door to reporters any more, following an interview last year when he overshared about his son being “stubborn” as a youngster.
Neighbours recall Florida’s nowgovernor playing basketball in the drive. He called himself “D” then instead of Ron, and briefly became something of a local celebrity aged 12, when his Little League baseball team reached the World Series, losing to Taiwan.
His Italian-american family – all eight of his great-grandparents lived in Italy – bought the 1,829sq ft house in 1985 for $65,000 (£52,000). It is now valued at $420,000 and has a double garage and small lawn.
For a living, his father installed Nielsen TV rating boxes around the neighbourhood, and his mother, Karen, worked as a nurse.
Mr Desantis has described his upbringing in Dunedin as “blue collar”, but it was working-class Florida style.
Palm trees are dotted between the detached homes on the grid of streets where he lived. An orange sports car sits in one nearby drive, and in another a large boat is for sale.
There are no factories or mines in Dunedin and some of the world’s best beaches are a short drive away.
A few doors from Mr Desantis’s boyhood home one neighbour was flying a large 2024 flag, which bore the names of both “Trump” and “Desantis”.
It encapsulated the dilemma many Republican voters are feeling across the country. One neighbour said: “I think Trump did a good job as president but I’m not crazy about him as a person. He [Mr Desantis] has a lot of the same values without the personality [of Mr Trump]. We need somebody much stronger and better than we have.”
The young Desantis was obsessed with baseball and would play Little League three miles from his home at Fisher Field, where there are half a dozen pristine fields with US flags flying on the home run fences. He went to primary school at the nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, and on to Dunedin high school.
At school Mr Desantis was outstandingly bright. According to an entry in his graduation yearbook he was US history student of the year, and won a host of baseball awards.
His main non-academic activities were baseball and part-time jobs, including one at the local Kash n’ Karry.
Considering he is now by far the most successful person ever to come from Dunedin – outstripping Game of Thrones director David Nutter – there is a surprising reticence among many Dunedinians to embrace him.
Julie Ward Bujalski, the mayor of Dunedin, west of Tampa, declined to comment on the town’s most famous son. Instead, a spokeswoman for the town said: “We don’t feel it’s appropriate to discuss the governor given he’s exploring a partisan higher office and we are a non-partisan community.”
Dunedin has a vibrant artistic community and it is replete with studios and galleries, and has been home to numerous painters. Bob Hackworth, 67, the Democrat mayor from 2005 to 2010, said: “Most people would say our town is progressive. It’s not San Francisco but it’s open and diverse.
“It’s hard for me to fathom how the culture of our town contributed to his [Mr Desantis’s] policies because they’re totally contradictory.”
The biggest nightlife draw in Dunedin has for decades been a drag show at Blur, a club on Main Street.
Some in Dunedin have objected strongly to the governor’s signing of a law which prevents drag shows being performed in front of children.
Mr Hackworth added: “When he grew up in this town [it] had a prominent bar and had drag shows all the time.” The former mayor added: “There hasn’t been a real connection with the town. He had the Little League success, but then he disappeared after high school.
“I don’t think even when he ran for governor the town was mentioned.”
Mr Desantis is expected to hold his kick-off rally for his 2024 campaign next week at Dunedin’s TB stadium.
Whether Dunedin will turn out in such numbers for its own famous son remains to be seen.
‘It’s hard for me to fathom how our town’s culture contributed to his policies ... they’re contradictory’