Casey DeSantis – (Credit: Office of Gov. Ron DeSantis)
The possibility of Casey DeSantis running for governor in 2026 was openly discussed by Republican fundraisers at a Palm Beach County event last week, and for the first time, Florida’s first lady is giving the idea real thought.
Her husband, Governor Ron DeSantis, is not eligible to run for reelection due to term limits. Five people with firsthand knowledge of the donor event and Casey DeSantis’ thinking told NBC News that there has been long-standing conjecture on whether Casey, a mainstay on her husband’s campaign trail, might one day run for office herself, but those plans appear to be getting closer to reality.
According to a person familiar with her thoughts, “I would say this: I have heard donors have been urging her to run and that even though it’s not something she has wanted to do, they are forcing her to at least stop and listen.”
For this piece, Casey DeSantis was not available for comment.
Her entry into the still-undetermined 2026 Republican primary field would have a profound impact on Florida politics and the national political scene, possibly igniting a proxy war between President Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis.
The other Republican, Rep. Byron Donalds, a key Trump ally, has publicly stated that he is thinking about running for governor.
Regarding the likelihood that Casey DeSantis will run for governor, another individual with knowledge of the discussions stated, “It is a real possibility,” however they did not yet know if it is a “probable scenario.”
The idea was largely political speculation prior to last week’s donor luncheon in South Florida. Even so, Casey DeSantis had to confront the topic since it had gained enough traction.
In May, she stated on the “Conservative Review” podcast, “I will tell you this, when people talk about me running for governor, I think it speaks highly about the governor himself.” “I believe that people’s enthusiasm for me stems from their admiration for all that this governor has accomplished for Florida.
“People are so proud of everything that Governor DeSantis has done for this state that they start saying things like, ‘Oh, you know, you should run,'” she continued.
Wilton Simpson, the state’s agriculture commissioner, is also rumored to be thinking about running with Donalds. He is a well-known statewide elected politician in Florida with over $30 million already in the bank from previous fundraising attempts, although lacking the national notoriety of Casey DeSantis or Donalds.
The election would most likely be seen as a proxy conflict between Trump and her husband if Casey DeSantis were to run.
After Trump supported Ron DeSantis’ 2018 gubernatorial campaign, the two were great friends; however, they had a high-profile falling out when DeSantis challenged Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Although their relationship has improved, the dynamics of a possible contest between Donalds, who is generally thought to be the candidate Trump’s team would back, and the current governor’s wife would reignite the animosity and the battle over who is the real kingmaker in Florida Republican politics.
Before Donalds endorsed Trump in the presidential primary, DeSantis and Donalds were so close that Donalds brought DeSantis and his family to DeSantis’ election night victory celebration in 2022.
DeSantis and Simpson have also had a tense relationship. The two men engaged in an open altercation last month after DeSantis vehemently rejected a plan by the GOP-controlled Legislature to deprive him of the state’s immigration monitoring authority and transfer it to Simpson.
At first, DeSantis wanted his longstanding ally, former state attorney general Ashley Moody, to run for governor. Although he believed she was the most qualified candidate to defeat Donalds, he finally chose to assign her to the Senate seat that became vacant when Trump appointed Marco Rubio as his secretary of state.
After Moody left, DeSantis had to find a another candidate who shared his views that he thought could be governor.
According to another person with knowledge of the situation, the governor saw his wife’s candidacy “as his best opportunity to set the future leaderships for the state and prevent a Simpson or Donalds governorship.” “That’s what ultimately allowed him to run like Casey.”
Although he declined to speak further, a senior Donalds adviser told NBC News that he had “heard the rumblings” of a Casey DeSantis campaign for governor.
DeSantis, the state’s current two-term governor, is looking for a candidate to replace him, but the current tensions between him and both men make it all but impossible for him to back either in a gubernatorial contest.
DeSantis has already declared his intention to run for governor in 2026.
DeSantis announced last month that he would support a candidate in the 2026 gubernatorial election through the Florida Freedom Fund, his state-level political group. Last year, he utilized the group to help defeat ballot propositions that would have established abortion rights in the Florida Constitution and legalized marijuana for recreational use in the state.
He wrote on X last month that “the Florida Freedom Fund was instrumental in raising huge sums of $ to defeat Amendment 3 and 4 in 2024.” “The FFF will raise even more money for the 2026 cycle (1) to support a strong candidate for governor and (2) to support strong conservative candidates in legislative primaries.”
Many have been left wondering who DeSantis would ultimately back. The Governor’s Mansion may already be occupied by the candidate who responds to that query.
“She will take off running. According to someone who knows Casey DeSantis’s philosophy, “I believe that most people now see that.” “There is a lot to be worked out, but at this point the rumors are not just that — it’s feeling very real.”
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Mike has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations. He once owned his own agency and has worked with some of the largest brands in the world.
