Message to Byron Donalds? Casey DeSantis warns ‘Republican-lite squishes’ could ruin Florida

Florida’s First Lady sounded like a candidate for her husband’s job during a speech to the Global Liberty Institute on Friday.

After roughly 17 minutes of boilerplate, Casey DeSantis delivered a dire warning about how Florida could become a “purple state” sooner than later, mirroring rhetoric from Gov. Ron DeSantis.

And in her remarks, delivered at the end of the speech, a discerning listener may have deduced the beginning of a 2026 stump speech in a GOP gubernatorial primary.

“While we are leading here in the state of Florida, I would say, and this is true, even with a Republican supermajority and the GOAT in the Governor’s office, none of this here runs on autopilot. The winds in Florida and frankly the sanity and the freedom that we enjoy in the free state of Florida unfortunately are not guaranteed in perpetuity,” Casey DeSantis warned.

In addition to threats posed by “the left and special interests,” she said, “squishes wanting to go Republican lite by continuing to spend on massive boondoggles and not implementing the will of the people” also present obstacles.

The comments were circulated Monday night, hours after the Governor offered direct commentary about the dangers Donald Trump-endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds posed.

“You got a guy like Byron Donalds; he just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the Left over these last years. He’s just not been a part of it,” DeSantis said in Tampa. “He’s been in other states campaigning, doing that, and that’s fine. But OK, well, then deliver results up there. You know, that’s what I want to see. I want to see them delivering results for the people of Florida. We deliver it here all the time for the people of Florida, and that’s what we need to be doing.”

Trump offered Donalds, a longtime ally in Congress, his endorsement last week. Donalds has said his team is having “internal conversations” and that an announcement is coming soon. The potential candidate has also hired prominent campaign staffers like Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio.

Polling that included Casey DeSantis and Byron Donalds has been favorable to her, including those who voted for Trump last year.

New polling from the University of North Florida (UNF) shows 57% of Trump voters approve of First Lady DeSantis, while just 4% disapprove of her. Donalds does respectably well in the survey, with 3 in 10 Trump voters approving of the Congressman and just 2% disapproving. But that puts the Congressman far from DeSantis’ +53.

While a recent Trump Truth Social post spotlighted a January poll, first covered by Florida Politics, showing Donalds with a massive lead over a hypothetical field of Republican opponents (Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez), most polling goes Casey DeSantis’ way.

Per a June polling memo from Florida Atlantic University, she leads a field of candidates with 43% support, ahead of Donalds at 19%, with Jimmy Patronis and Matt Gaetz further back.

A poll conducted in April by FAU showed 38% of 372 Florida Republicans polled would choose the First Lady in a head-to-head race against Gaetz, who would receive 16% support in that scenario.

A University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab survey from November 2023 showed the First Lady with 22% support, a lead in a crowded field of potential candidates.

The First Couple acted disinterested in remaining in the Governor’s Mansion for a while.

Casey DeSantis previously acknowledged the talk is “humbling” and maintains that the seeming enthusiasm for her running is due to her “rock star” husband and his job as the state’s chief executive.

However, published speculation suggested there is more direct dialogue behind the scenes.

Matt Dixon of NBC News reports a “source familiar with her thinking” suggesting a 2026 run is a possibility.

Indeed, her recent comments support that as a possibility.