Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect Casey Desantis launches and promotes the initiative, Hope Florida, a community-based initiative that is different from the Hope Florida Foundation, a Hope-based initiative in Florida.
(Hill) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is facing an increase in his state’s backlash over allegations involving an organization related to his wife.
The controversy relates to a $10 million payment to the Florida Foundation, which is linked to First Lady Casey DeSantis’ welfare assistance program, Hope Florida, which has led to criticism from Republicans at the Capitol. Critics argue that the money was inappropriately used to support a campaign against a voting measure that legalized recreational marijuana in the state last November.
Critics say the money was part of a settlement agreement involving Centene, the state’s largest Medicaid contractor. They said the entire bulk of the settlement was intended to be returned to state and federal sources, but was sent to the Hope Florida Foundation, and eventually came into the hands of political groups who opposed the voting measure.
DeSantis denied the allegation. But on Tuesday, Florida media acquired a draft agreement that appears to be inconsistent with the governor. This is a development that threatens to put pressure on him and comes to fill the next political step in the coming years.
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“It certainly isn’t good for the first family,” said one Florida Republican operative. “I think that has had a big impact on her ability to run for the governor more than anything else.”
The controversy over the Florida Foundation’s hopes dates back last year when Florida discovered it was owed $67 million in debt in a settlement with Senten Co., after the state collapsed due to Medicaid. The draft agreement obtained by the media on Tuesday suggested that $10 million of the money was poured through charities associated with an organization founded and promoted by Casey DeSantis, and ultimately sent to two nonprofits involved in the campaign against voting measures. One of these groups gave money to the PAC, tied up by James Uthmeier, the then Governor’s staff chief.
It seemed to contradict the DeSantis administration’s claim that the $10 million given to the nonprofit was separate from the money received as part of the settlement.
In a statement to the Florida media, DeSantis spokesman Brian Griffin said the negotiations were handled by the Department of Health Care (AHCA).
“Centene made the 2021 claims issue positive and the state worked for many years to make sure it was resolved,” Griffin told the outlet, adding, “The settlement was a huge benefit to the state.”
In a post on Social Platform X on Tuesday, Griffin called the contract report a coordinated hit.
“This whole article – next to a series of coordinated hits, we will misproject the ambitious assessment of the plaintiff’s lawyer’s case as fact,” Griffin said. “This shady spin wasn’t that beforehand because this reporter was so crazy when he reached out to this ‘story’. ”
The controversy sparked outrage from members of DeSantis’ own party. Recently, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FLA.) suggested that Republicans in the Florida State Legislature could move to current Attorney General, amendment Uthmeier over the handling of money in their campaign against Amendment 3, a marijuana-related voting law. Gaetz and many Florida Republicans opposed Amendment 3 last year.
DeSantis critics, including many state capitols, had kept the money sent to the nonprofit as Medicaid money before reporting Tuesday.
“The fact that AHCA knew that they were piloting $10 million in Medicaid funds for the foundation is a serious problem,” Senator Alex Andrade (R) told The Hill. “It’s just daring. It’s shocking to me that he was sloppy and brave to do what he did with that money.”
Andredo, chairman of the State Capitol Healthcare Budget Subcommittee, is investigating the $10 million transfer and questioning the Florida Foundation’s wishes during a hearing with the group’s chairman earlier this month.
During the hearing, Foundation Chairman Joshua Hay said “the public report made clear that an error had been made.”
“The reporting procedure is lapsed. The Foundation is not providing the personnel delivery support necessary to ensure that all issues are being handled promptly and properly,” Hay told the panel.
DeSantis fought back against Andrade, accusing him and other state Capitol Republicans of hindering their own party at a press conference in Andredo district earlier this month.
“We have this almost 3-1 super majority of Republicans in the Florida House of Representatives, and it’s rotten,” DeSantis said last week. “They are acting like Democrats. They are colluding with the left. They are trying to contend with the media to thwart all the huge successes Florida has gained over the past six years.”
The governor continued to call what he said was a smear produced against him and his wife.
“Some people feel threatened by the First Lady, let’s be clear about that,” the governor said. “They know this. We saw her here. If you’re watching 2026 and have a horse, you don’t want her near it.
Casey Desantis is considering the governor’s run next year. Rep. Byron Donald (R-Fla.), who already has a calm relationship with the governor, took part in the race with President Trump’s much-needed support.
Early voting shows first ladies with a high approval rate. A Mason Dixon polling and strategy survey released in March showed Casey DeSantis had a 53% approval rate, slightly higher than Donald’s approval rate, which came in at 48%.
Republicans are mixed up about whether the controversy will do anything to prevent the chances of winning the governor’s mansion.
“It gives the world of Magazine another reason to line up behind Byron Donald, besides Donald Trump,” said a Florida Republican operative.
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Other operatives and strategists pointed to the complexity of the controversy, claiming that many of them could go straight over the heads of most voters.
“There are so many moving parts to hold it in place. That’s not something you’d lend to the topic or bumper stickers. So if you’re DeSantis, you just don’t lend it to something politically, people can easily understand and pick up.”
Another Republican strategist likened the controversy to the “Tallahassie Parlor Game.”
“If the goal was to keep her out of the governor’s race, launching this attack was the absolute worst they could do. Instead of putting Casey DeSantis aside, they handed her the megaphone instead… she took it and ran it,” the strategist said.
Andredo pushed back the notion that efforts to investigate the foundation had nothing to do with the First Lady’s political aspirations.
“I don’t care if she submits to run for governor or not. I don’t support anyone who runs for the governor,” Andrade said. “I’m a bit shocked at how incompetent she is, given how much credit she has gained for the Hope Florida Foundation and the Hope Florida program.”
The debate can be seen as a manifestation of what is a controversial legislative meeting in Florida that saw it opposed Republicans at the State Capitol. Gov. DeSantis and state legislator Daniel Perez (R) date back to the beginning of this year, when the governor faced enforcement from Governor Sen. Ben Albritton (R) seeking a special session to carry out Trump immigration Zenda. Perez also raised many questions about Hope Florida.
Meanwhile, in the state Senate, former deputies’ father, Ethics and Election Committee Chairman Don Goetz (R), said the committee would not consider the appointment of AHCA secretaries and child and family secretaries before the end of the legislative meeting in Florida’s ongoing House investigation.
“We’re currently a very divided government in Florida,” said the Florida GOP operative.
