Ron DeSantis Net Worth, Education, Wife & Life Story

Website	Official website
His Campaign	Campaign website
Appearances on C-SPAN	C-SPAN
Profile	Profile at Vote Smart
Ballotpedia	Ron DeSantis

Childhood & Early Life

DeSantis is the older of two children born to Ronald Daniel DeSantis, an installer of Nielsen TV rating boxes, and Karen DeSantis, a nurse.

Ron DeSantis was an exceptional baseball player who distinguished himself as a pitcher and third baseman at an early age.

Although they were defeated in the quarterfinals, he assisted the Dunedin (Florida) squad in 1991 in reaching the Little League World Series. At Yale University, where he captained the varsity squad, DeSantis continued to play baseball.

DeSantis temporarily worked as a teacher at a prep school after receiving his history degree in 2001 before enrolling in Harvard University’s law program (J.D., 2005).

He enlisted in the American Navy at this time (2004) and rose to the rank of officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. His military service included time spent at the renowned detention centre at Guantánamo Bay’s naval base.

DeSantis served as a legal advisor to a Navy SEAL commander while serving in Iraq as well. He received praise and a Bronze Star for valorous service. DeSantis retired from active duty in 2010 but stayed in the U.S. Navy Reserves.

In that same year, he also got hitched to local news anchor and TV reporter Casey Black. Three kids were born to the couple.

DeSantis reported to the Naval Special Warfare Command Group in Coronado, California, in 2007, where he was assigned as a legal consultant to SEAL Team One; he traveled to Iraq as part of the troop surge in the autumn of 2007. 

He advised Dane Thorleifson, the SEAL Commander of Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah, on legal matters.

DeSantis was transferred to the Naval Region Southeast Legal Service when he returned to the United States in April 2008. He was appointed as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

DeSantis worked as a trial defense attorney until his honorable release from the military in February 2010. He also took a reserve rank as a lieutenant in the US Navy Reserve’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

DeSantis received the Bronze Star Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Iraq Campaign Medal during his military service.

His tenure in the Navy Reserve concluded in February 2019, a month after his inauguration as governor, with the rank of lieutenant commander.

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Career

In the 2012 Republican primary for Florida’s 6th congressional district, DeSantis beat six opponents. He also defeated Democratic contender Heather Beaven in the general election. In 2014 and 2016, he won reelection.

DeSantis declared his candidature for the Florida U.S. Senate seat in 2016 in May of that year. Due to his 2016 presidential campaign, Marco Rubio first decided not to register to compete for reelection, therefore he took over that seat.

The fiscally responsible Club for Growth organization of the Koch Brothers supported DeSantis.

DeSantis withdrew from the Senate race and decided to compete for reelection to the House when Rubio halted his presidential campaign and decided to run for reelection to the Senate.

DeSantis vowed not to support any tax increases to combat global warming in the “No Climate Tax Pledge” of 2013. He supported H.R. 45, which in 2013 would have repealed the Affordable Care Act.

DeSantis put up legislation in 2014 that required the Justice Department to inform Congress anytime a government agency chose not to enforce the law. 

DeSantis was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus in Congress, a collection of conservative and libertarian lawmakers, in 2015.

DeSantis has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association and opposes gun regulation. According to him, criminals are very seldom impacted by gun regulations. Really, they only have an impact on law-abiding persons.

DeSantis criticized Obama’s immigration policy, notably the deferred action laws (DACA and DAPA), and said that the president was lax in upholding immigration rules. 

In 2015, he was a co-sponsor of Kate’s Law, which would have stiffened sanctions for foreign nationals who illegally return to the country after being expelled. DeSantis urged Florida sheriffs to work with the federal government on matters relating to immigration.

According to DeSantis, the discussion over how to lower the federal deficit should place less focus on tax hikes and more emphasis on expenditure cuts and stimulating the economy.

As a former U.S. congressman, he cosponsored legislation that would have replaced the IRS and the federal income tax with a federal sales tax known as the FairTax. In an effort to push Congress to enact a budget resolution, he advocated the “no budget, no pay” strategy. 

DeSantis supported the REINS Act, which mandated that legislation with a major economic impact must first get approval from Congress before going into force. He was also in favor of the Federal Reserve System being audited.

DeSantis was recognized as a “Taxpayer Superhero” by the conservative research group Citizens Against Government Waste in 2015. 

DeSantis demanded the resignation of IRS commissioner John Koskinen over claims that the agency had targeted conservatives and had “failed the American people by obstructing Congress’s efforts to ascertain the truth.

“In order to remove Koskinen from office for betraying the public’s confidence, he cosponsored a measure. Lois Lerner, an IRS official, came under fire from DeSantis and was pressed to appear before Congress.

DeSantis submitted his paperwork to run for governor on January 5, 2018, to succeed Republican incumbent Rick Scott, who had reached the end of his tenure. The president had said earlier in the month that he would back DeSantis if he decided to run for governor.

DeSantis ran an advertisement in the Republican primary that featured him teaching his kids how to “build the wall” and say “Make America Great Again” in order to highlight his support for Trump. 

When asked to identify a topic where he differed with Trump, DeSantis opted not to. On August 28, 2018, DeSantis defeated his biggest rival, Adam Putnam, to win the Republican primary.

In a resounding victory on November 8, DeSantis was elected. With 59.4% of the vote against Crist’s 40%, won the Florida governorship by the widest margin of victory since 1982.

Importantly, DeSantis won both Palm Beach County, which hadn’t voted Republican since 1986, and Miami-Dade County, which had been a Democratic bastion since 2002.

Shortly after DeSantis was predicted to win, Crist surrendered the race. At DeSantis’ victory rally, fans alternately screamed “two more years” and “four more years” to promote DeSantis’ bid for the presidency in 2024.

In office since January 8, 2019, DeSantis. He has traditionally led in a conservative manner. He posthumously pardoned the Groveland Four, a group of black men wrongfully convicted of rape in 1949, on January 11, three days after entering office. 

He appointed Gregory Tony to succeed Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel on the same day that he formally suspended him for his answers to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

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Major Works

Year	Major work
2006	Promoted to lieutenant before serving as a legal advisor to SEAL Team One, then stationed at Joint Task Force Guantanamo
2007	DeSantis was deployed to Iraq.
2009	Ron DeSantis was elected to Congress as the U.S. Representative for Florida’s Sixth District
2015	Ron DeSantis to run for Rubio Senate seat
2018	GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis announces run for governor of Florida
2019	Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Signs New Firefighter Cancer Benefits Law
2019	During Florida Cabinet Meeting Held In Israel, Gov. DeSantis Signs Bill To Curb Anti-Semitism
2019	Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs “sanctuary cities” ban
2021	Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspends all local COVID emergency mandates
2022	Florida’s DeSantis flies dozens of “illegal immigrants” to Martha’s Vineyard, escalating tactic against “sanctuary destinations”
2023	DeSantis signs restrictive immigration bill, slams Biden as Title 42 is set to expire
2023	DeSantis signs flurry of anti-trans bills, including ban on gender-affirming care for minors

Abortion

After the US Supreme Court voted last year to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion, Mr DeSantis promptly signed a bill prohibiting them after 15 weeks.

Last month he signed a stricter bill passed by his party which banned the procedure after six weeks – before most women know they are pregnant.

Teaching in schools

Mr DeSantis has repeatedly waded into culture war issues, particularly what he refers to as “woke ideology”.

Declaring often that “Florida is where woke goes to die”, he has led efforts this year to remake education curriculums by restricting classroom discussions on sex and gender identity. The bill is called “Don’t Say Gay” by its critics.

His escalating war with Disney, one of the state’s largest employers, began over its criticism of the bill following protests by employees.

Social Security

Despite the pressure on budgets as debt ceiling talks drag on, neither man is keen to pick a fight with a crucial voting bloc – pensioners.

“We’re not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans,” said Mr DeSantis. “I think that that’s pretty clear.”

But it has become a bone of contention between the two.

Economy

As the US economy loses steam, voters may be looking for a responsible economic steward to be their next president – more proactive than Mr Biden but less reactive than Mr Trump.

According to Edwin Benton, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, the governor’s intense focus on the culture wars will leave many with the perception that he is less interested in attending to issues like the rising cost of living and property insurance.

“When you get right down to it, people are going to look for the real nitty-gritty: is this person interested in me and my family?” he said.

Mr. DeSantis visited the UK, South Korea, Japan, and Israel on an “International trade mission” aimed at building the economic relationships between Florida and the four countries.

Criminalizing Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

Also in May, DeSantis signed a bill that would criminalize doctors who provide gender-affirming care to minors.

As the ACLU of Florida has noted, the bill would also allow a parent who is non-supportive of their child’s wish to transition to have the upper hand in child custody disputes in divorce proceedings versus a parent who is supportive of their trans child’s health care.

Awards and Achievements

• Bronze Star
• Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal
• Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
• Iraq Campaign Medal

Ron DeSantis Net Worth

American politician Ron DeSantis Net Worth is estimated to be $55 Million in 2023. Ron DeSantis is an American politician and attorney serving as the Governor of Florida since 2019. DeSantis is one of the wealthiest Governors in the United States. 

Even though DeSantis lives in the government mansion, he owns few real estate property investments. Ron DeSantis owns one of the most expensive houses in Jacksonville, Florida (In his wife’s name).

This property is a 7,000-square-foot mansion with 5 bathrooms and 2 pools. Ron DeSantis bought his house for $8 Million and the current market value is $22 Million.

Controversy

The state of Florida approved a rule in 2022 that forbids teachers from discussing certain LGBTQ subjects in third grade or below or “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

Even before it went into force in July, the policy, properly known as “Parental Rights in Education,” had broad public opposition, with detractors claiming it may negatively affect a population that was already marginalized.

A bill that prohibits school teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, K–12, was signed by DeSantis in May 2023, expanding the original law.

DeSantis’ so-called “Don’t Say Gay” policy has already established itself as a lasting part of his legacy in Florida and prompted a spat with Disney that is still going on more than a year later.

After the business voiced its opposition to the divisive proposal, DeSantis launched an offensive, openly pleading with lawmakers to withdraw the unique advantages that Disney has benefited from in Florida since the 1960s.

A law that will prevent transgender female athletes from competing on teams at public schools intended for student-athletes who are biological females was signed by DeSantis in 2021.

DeSantis said at the time, “In Florida, girls will play girls’ sports and boys will play boys’ sports.” “We’re going to make sure that’s the reality.”

DeSantis signed the legislation on the first day of Pride Month, as NPR reported at the time.

By 2023, DeSantis was still committed to passing laws that restricted the rights of the transgender community.

On May 17, he signed legislation that makes it illegal trespassing to use a bathroom that isn’t appropriate for their gender identity and requires that all public buildings, educational institutions, detention centers, and correctional facilities (including juvenile institutions) have separate bathrooms for men and women.

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