Why Casey DeSantis may be a double-edged sword in her husband's battle for the White House

Sitting alongside her husband and addressing the Republican party faithful in Iowa earlier this month, Casey DeSantis looked just as much a presidential candidate as her spouse.

With an easy charm and a poise learned from her years as a local TV anchor, Mrs DeSantis spoke with verve about the work she has done as First Lady of Florida. Her focus has been on cancer research, mental health and education.

But she was at her most forceful when it came to discussing the man sitting next to her, and now seeking the White House at the youthful age of 44.

Mr DeSantis - or "the governor", as she called him - was the "embodiment of the American Dream” she explained, as she charted his route from a middle-class home to the Ivy League, the Navy, Congress and then the governor's mansion.

As the father of their three young children, he was "fighting for our children just as much as he’s fighting for your families”, she told the audience at a hotel in Cedar Rapids

Mrs DeSantis, 42, went on to assure the Republican Party members: “He is exactly what you see behind the podium as he is at home.”

It is this softer side of the 2024 presidential hopeful that his wife's on-stage appearances is intended to showcase: a crucial counterbalance to the much-discussed stiff and awkward demeanour of Mr DeSantis.

A 'huge asset'

Supporters of the governor describe his spouse as a "huge asset" and plan to deploy her throughout his 2024 presidential campaign.

"She's extremely intelligent and insightful, as well as being warm and thoughtful at the same time," Dan Eberhart, a major DeSantis donor, told the Telegraph. "She's really going to enhance Governor DeSantis's candidacy."

The telegenic young mother appears more than up to the task. In her own words, she is willing to "move mountains to help him".

And just to underscore her starring role, it was Mrs DeSantis' Twitter account - not her husband's - that trailed his 2024 campaign launch with a teaser clip on Tuesday night.

"Big if true," she wrote, alongside a link to a report of his imminent declaration and a teasing smiley face emoji.

A local celebrity

Mrs DeSantis is no stranger to the campaign trail. The couple first met on a driving range in Florida in 2006 and married at Disney World in 2009.

Born and raised in Ohio, the daughter of an optometrist and a speech pathologist, Jill Casey Black had moved to Jacksonville, Florida to take a job as a local news anchor.

Something of a local celebrity, she began using her married name on TV as her husband was preparing a run for Congress in 2012.

She accompanied him on the doorstep, regularly being recognised by voters and, in Mr DeSantis's own telling, boosting his profile.

The couple have daughters Madison five, and Mamie, two, along with four-year-old son, Mason. The children feature prominently in the DeSantis's political campaigns - a generational contrast with the 76-year-old Donald Trump.

At 44, Mr DeSantis is just a year older than President John F Kennedy was when he entered the White House.

But it is Mrs DeSantis who has invited comparisons with the Kennedys, with her pastel-coloured dresses and white gloves evoking Jackie Kennedy's style.

Not long after giving birth to their youngest, Mrs DeSantis was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She revealed she was cancer free in early 2022, detailing her battle and her husband's support in a moving campaign advert for his re-election bid later that year.

'Blindly ambitious'

Her centrality to Mr DeSantis's strategy has won her praise and criticism in equal measure. Supporters describe her as an astute political observer who is at ease in the spotlight that inevitably accompanies a run for high office.

But critics say the couple's mistrust of outside strategists, and her influence over policy decisions have led them to careless, and avoidable, early missteps.

One former staffer told Politico Mrs DeSantis was more "blindly ambitious” than her husband. Such is her involvement in her husband's career, some in their orbit reportedly refer to them as “the DeSanti”.

Roger Stone, a Republican strategist and arch-Trump loyalist, has put it in hyperbolic - and vicious - terms.

"Have you ever noticed how much Ron DeSantis' wife Casey is like Lady Macbeth?" He asked social media followers last October.

Even supporters like Mr Eberhart have expressed concern that her success in Florida has made Mrs DeSantis overestimate her ability to be a driving force in a presidential campaign.

Mr Eberhart is more circumspect in his comments during a conversation with The Telegraph on the eve of the DeSantis campaign launch.

"I think he's broadened his team of advisers," he said. "But Casey is very much his most important confidante."

In contrast with Mr DeSantis's rivals, his spouse will feature prominently in the long and gruelling campaign stops that lie ahead.

While Melania Trump will likely remain holed up at Mar-a-Lago, Mrs DeSantis can be expected to be found glad-handing voters in New Hampshire or frequenting barbecue joints in Iowa.

Among those in the audience for the DeSantises' appearance in Cedar Rapids earlier this month was Steve Scheffler, president of Iowa's Faith and Freedom Coalition.

He described Mrs DeSantis as a "natural" on stage, where the couple participated in a question and answer session.

"Her answers probably dominated 65 per cent of that conversation," he said. "I think people were pretty impressed."

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