Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign hasn’t gone as planned.
He’s making a move that could vault him back into contention.
And Ron DeSantis has one secret weapon that could turn the GOP primary upside down.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is trying to gain momentum for his presidential campaign by using his wife, Casey, more on the campaign trail.
The likable Florida First Lady has been one of his best surrogates for campaigning and an important part of his strategy to reach women voters.
She stepped in for her husband at South Carolina’s Faith & Freedom BBQ, the largest GOP event in the early primary state, while he was preparing for Hurricane Idalia.
“You’re getting the better end of the deal by having my wife Casey there,” DeSantis said in a recorded video.
In the first state in the GOP primary, Iowa, she launched the group Mamas for DeSantis in July.
“It’s one thing when your policies come out after us – the mamas,” Casey DeSantis said. “It’s another thing when they come after our children and that’s when the claws come out.”
Never Back Down, the super PAC backing DeSantis, is building on the Mamas for DeSantis group by starting a parents’ group in key primary states.
Parents Never Back Down groups are already up and running in Virginia, New Hampshire, and South Carolina with more states being added during the fall.
The PAC’s plan is to target parents who are upset with the woke agenda that’s taken over schools and highlight the Florida governor’s efforts to stamp it out.
DeSantis has made waging war on wokeness one of the signature issues of his campaign.
Education was one of the top issues for voters in last year’s Midterm Elections.
Casey DeSantis used this message when she launched Mamas for DeSantis in Iowa this summer.
“It should be up to the parents to decide what education they think are best for their children,” Casey DeSantis said. “And government should, again, get out of the way.”
She credited her husband’s education policies for helping fuel his landslide reelection victory last year.
DeSantis won women voters by nine points last year.
Never Back Down chief operating officer Kristin Davison told donors that Casey was a major asset on the campaign trail.
“With her help, they convert an entire room,” Davison said. “She just brings a level of humility and warmness.”
Casey DeSantis said that she’s willing to crisscross the country to help get her husband elected.
“As long as I have breath in my body I will fight for Ron DeSantis – not just because he’s my husband; that is part of it – but it’s because I believe in him,” she said. “If you want somebody to go up to Washington, D.C. to clean house, to be able to put this country back on the trajectory where we are talking about – our rights coming up from our creator and our government being put in place to protect our rights that are ours, he is the man to do it and if I have to crisscross this country, I’ll do it.”
An increased presence of Casey DeSantis could give her husband the chance to build support with women voters before the primary.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
