Ronald Dion DeSantis was born on September 14, 1978, in Jacksonville, Florida. He is the eldest of two children born to Karen DeSantis, a nurse, and Ronald Daniel DeSantis, who installed Nielsen TV-rating boxes. His family moved to Orlando, Florida, before relocating to Dunedin in the Tampa Bay area when he was six years old. DeSantis was a standout baseball player in his youth, helping the Dunedin National team qualify for the 1991 Little League World Series. His only sibling, a younger sister named Christina, died in 2015 at age 30 from a pulmonary embolism.

In 2004, DeSantis joined the U.S. Navy and became an officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He was promoted to lieutenant and served as a legal advisor to SEAL Team One. His military service included a station at Joint Task Force Guantanamo in 2006 and a deployment to Iraq in 2007, where he acted as a legal adviser to a Navy SEAL commander. He received a Bronze Star for meritorious service. DeSantis left active duty in 2010 with an honorable discharge but remained in the U.S. Navy Reserves. Following his return to the U.S. in 2007, he was appointed as a special assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida, a position he held until 2010.

DeSantis married Casey Black, a TV reporter and local news anchor, in 2010. The couple has three children.

Education

DeSantis attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School and Dunedin High School, graduating in 1997. After high school, he studied history at Yale University, graduating in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts. While at Yale, he was captain of the varsity baseball team, playing outfield. Following graduation, he briefly worked as a teacher at a prep school before attending Harvard Law School. He earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard in 2005.

Political Experience

DeSantis entered politics after working as a federal prosecutor. In 2011, he published a book titled Dreams from Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama, outlining his conservative views. He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012 to represent Florida's 6th congressional district and was reelected in 2014 and 2016. During his tenure in Congress, which lasted from 2013 to 2018, he became a founding member of the Freedom Caucus in 2015 and was a frequent commentator on Fox News. He was an ally of President Donald Trump and supported Trump's tax-reform bill in 2017. In 2016, DeSantis briefly ran for the U.S. Senate but withdrew when incumbent Senator Marco Rubio sought reelection.

In 2018, DeSantis ran for governor of Florida with Trump's backing. He won the Republican primary and defeated Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum in the general election by 0.4%. The race was marked by controversy, with DeSantis and his supporters facing accusations of racism, which DeSantis denied. He took office as the 46th governor of Florida in 2019.

During his governorship, DeSantis gained national attention for his policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, lifting restrictions earlier than many other governors while implementing measures to protect the elderly. His administration established the Office of Election Crimes and Security in 2022. He encouraged the passage of the Parental Rights in Education Act and the Heartbeat Protection Act. In his second term, he signed Florida Senate Bill 266 and established the Florida departments of Commerce and Government Efficiency. His tenure also included management of major hurricanes, including Ian, Helene, and Milton.

DeSantis was reelected in 2022, defeating former governor Charlie Crist by 19.4%, the largest margin for either party in a Florida gubernatorial race since 1982. On May 24, 2023, he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of the United States. He withdrew from the presidential race on January 21, 2024, and endorsed Donald Trump. As of 2026, he continues to serve as governor, overseeing initiatives such as bills banning DEI initiatives and ordering state flags to be flown half-staff for fallen soldiers.