South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Who is Casey DeSantis? First lady knows ‘what’s best for Ron’
TALLAHASSEE — Sitting cross-legged on a couch in the Governor’s Mansion wearing a soft lilac sweater and blue jeans, Casey DeSantis stared directly into the camera to talk about how her husband, Gov. Ron DeSantis, helped her get through treatment for breast cancer.
“I was facing the battle for my life. He was the dad who took care of my children when I couldn’t. He was there to pick me off of the ground when I literally could not stand. He was there to fight for me when I didn’t have the strength to fight for myself,” she said.
While it was meant to show voters the human, caring side of Ron DeSantis the candidate, husband and father, it said even more about Florida first lady Casey DeSantis as both a political and life partner of the governor.
“The most powerful thing she’s done is the video she cut about the governor’s role during her battle with cancer,” said Nick Iarossi, a legislative lobbyist, campaign adviser and part of the small group of confidantes to the couple.
Pundits have been calling Casey DeSantis her husband’s secret weapon at least since he first ran for governor in 2018 as a littleknown congressman who toppled the heir apparent in the Republican primary and went on to narrowly beat former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.
Together, they are a picture-perfect couple with three rambunctious and photogenic kids. They are constantly in the public eye, whether at news conferences,
campaign events or high school football games.
He decisively won a second term as governor of Florida, the third-largest state in the nation, and is mentioned as a contender in the 2024 Republican presidential sweepstakes. That makes it all the more important to know who Casey DeSantis is, as she could become the next first lady of the United States.
She is a formidable presence, an equal partner with her own office and staff, whose advice he leans on heavily, allies of the couple say.
“She’s an equal part and partner,” said Brian Ballard, one of the most powerful lobbyists and political insiders in Florida and Washington, D.C., and a former adviser to Donald Trump. “Her advice has served him well.”
Not only does he heed her counsel, Ballard said, but she’s always right. “She sees clearly what’s best for Ron.”
Her instincts have helped her when she gives speeches acting as her husband’s surrogate, advising on campaign ads and getting 1.1 million women to sign up the Moms for DeSantis, showing her ability to attract a large voting bloc.
“There is definitely a strong bond and partnership and they don’t trust anybody as much as each other,” Iarossi said. “They are each other’s person. They have a very strong faith and are very resolute people.”
The early years
Jill Casey Black was born June 26, 1980, in Troy, Ohio, the second child of Robert Black, an optometrist and former United States Air Force officer, and Jeanne
Caponigro, a speech pathologist and daughter of a Sicilian immigrant.
Reached by phone to get more information on Casey’s childhood, her mother, who currently lives in Aiken, S.C., with her husband, declined to comment. “Sorry, I can’t help,” she said. “You’ll have to get all that through your research.”
Her sister Kate Bufton, older by two years and herself a military veteran, could not be reached for comment.
The governor’s and first lady’s offices did not respond to requests for an interview or to questions sent via email for this story.
Casey grew up in comfortable homes on tree-lined streets with lush green lawns in a city of about 20,000 people, overwhelmingly white and Republican, about 19 miles north of Dayton. The city has since grown by about 6,000 people but the demographics remain the same.
Casey’s passion for horseback riding and her sister’s love of ice skating began there, said Sandy Gurklies, who currently runs the town’s historical library, and taught at the same elementary school when Casey was there. Her mother was the school’s speech pathologist at the time.
“They seemed like a very nice family,” Gurklies said.
The girls spent so much time engaged in outside activities they were given special school assignments, Gurklies said. “I’m sure they were good students. They had special assignments because of their other interests.”
Throughout high school, Casey led an active social and extracurricular life. The Troy High School Trojans yearbooks are full of photos of Casey on the junior and senior cabinets, homecoming court, the midwinter court, freshman and varsity basketball, track and field, and cross-country teams.
One photo taken her freshman year shows her and two friends goofing around as they painted a sign for the football team.
An equestrian in college
After graduating from Troy High in 1999, Casey enrolled in the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where she competed in equestrian competitions sponsored by the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association.
She rode for a strong Cougars team, said Steve Maxwell, editor of Campus Equestrian magazine. She started at the entry-level and placed fifth out of 15 riders in her first year, Maxwell said. As a sophomore she rode at a higher level, helping her team place third out of 15 teams. And in 2002, Casey rode well enough to qualify for regionals.
Maxwell took a photo of Casey with her dog Snaffle, named after a type of bit used to steer horses.
She received a bachelor of science degree in economics with a minor in French in August 2003. That same year, her parents bought a home in Mount Pleasant, near Charleston. He set up an optometry practice in Charleston and took a faculty position at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Casey moved to Jacksonville after graduation for a career in journalism.
In a television interview four years ago, she described her move into that profession as a detour that surprised her parents.
“I think that had that look like, “What are you doing?”