Meet Ron DeSantis, the anti-lockdown Florida governor with White House in his sights

Ron DeSantis, the combative governor of Florida, has emerged as the early joint frontrunner with Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

Mr DeSantis, 42, became a national figure in the United States as he lambasted lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions, and aggressively campaigned to keep schools open in his state.

His stance has attracted companies to relocate from New York and California and led to a surging economy, low unemployment and a house price boom.

In political betting markets Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis have now been neck-and-neck for weeks, swapping places in the lead.

In mid-June Mr DeSantis topped a straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, the largest gathering of conservatives in the western US.

He got 275 votes to Mr Trump's 265. Attendees were also asked to register approval of various candidates.

Mr DeSantis received 74.12 per cent approval, edging out Mr Trump on 71.43 per cent.

Senator Ted Cruz was a distant third with 42.86 per cent approval. Mike Pence, the former vice president, was in 10th place.

Mr DeSantis was born in Florida to working class parents and went on to graduate from Yale, where he captained the baseball team.

He then graduated from Harvard Law School and became a US Navy lawyer, which included working on Guantanamo Bay cases.

In 2007 he deployed to Iraq in the "surge" as legal adviser to a US Navy SEAL team.

He later worked as a government prosecutor and is still a US Navy reservist.

In 2010 Mr DeSantis, who is Catholic, married Casey Black, a former local news anchor, Golf Channel presenter and equestrian champion. They have three children.

Two years later Mr DeSantis was elected to Congress to represent Florida's Sixth District.

He refused to accept his Congressional pension or health insurance plans, saying politicians should not get special treatment.

Four years later he won a tight battle to become governor of Florida, having been strongly backed by Mr Trump.

At one point in the campaign Mr DeSantis released a TV advert in which he showed his young daughter how to build a wall.

When the pandemic hit Mr DeSantis vigorously fought against lockdown measures.

Florida has a particularly large elderly population - it is home to The Villages, the biggest retirement community in the world with over 100,000 residents.

Instead of backing the closure of schools, as many Democrat governors in America did, Mr DeSantis chose to isolate nursing homes.

In the end, Florida's coronavirus death rate ended up being lower than the US average.

In May he moved to suspend all remaining coronavirus restrictions in Florida.

That month Mr DeSantis signed a new law giving himself sweeping powers to abolish emergency pandemic measures put in place by Democrat-led local authorities, including requirements to wear masks.

Mr DeSantis also recently signed a controversial voting rights bill live on "Fox & Friends" - Mr Trump's favourite Fox News show.

It introduces restrictions on voting by post and at drop boxes, and is virulently opposed by Democrats.

Mr Trump recently told Fox News that Mr DeSantis is a "great guy" who had "taken off like a rocket ship."

The former president said he would "certainly" consider Mr DeSantis as a running mate if he himself runs in 2024.

Many senior Republican figures see Mr DeSantis as Mr Trump's heir apparent, the perfect post-Trump candidate.

Even the most fervent members of Mr Trump's "base" also back Mr DeSantis, and the Florida governor is less alienating for moderate Republicans and independents.

Like the former president, Mr DeSantis has a confrontational relationship with much of the media.

Recently CBS's flagship "60 Minutes" programme broadcast a high-profile investigation into Florida's vaccine rollout, suggesting it had been influenced by a $100,000 donation to Mr DeSantis.

The suggestion was debunked by a series of Democrat officials in Florida, and served to increase Mr DeSantis's popularity with conservatives.

Another report suggested that former employees of Mr DeSantis had formed a "support group" and that he had a high turnover of staff.

Adrian Lukis, his chief of staff, responded that was "false and merely designed to manufacture a partisan narrative."

Meanwhile, Democrats in Florida claimed it was they who had kept the state's death rate low by working to rein in Mr DeSantis.

Rick Kriseman, the Democrat mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida said: "To be clear, cities like St. Petersburg, Tampa, Orlando, Miami and Miami Beach, saved Florida and the governor’s behind throughout this pandemic.

"Can you imagine if each city had been led by Ron DeSantis? How many lives would have been lost? What would our economy look like today?"