The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is endorsing Florida Governor Ronald DeSantis, Lcdr-USNR (JAGC) of Ponte Vero Beach, Florida to run for re-election as Governor of Florida.  Gov DeSantis was previously endorsed as the 63rd of 143 endorsed Combat Veteran For Congress in 13 years; the link to his campaign Web site is listed in the attachment.  Gov DeSantis has proven to be a fiscal and Constitutional Conservative Governor.  As a three term Congressmen, he represented the 6th Congressional District of Florida.  Then Congressman DeSantis worked to rein in the out-of-control spending by irresponsible members of Congress, and worked to protect and support the 2nd Amendment rights of residents in the State of Florida and of all Americans.  We have consistently approved of his commitment to support honorable principles, patriotism, strong unfailing leadership, and his dedication to protect and defend the US Constitutional Republic.   

Governor DeSantis was born on September 14, 1978, in Jacksonville, Florida.  Upon graduating from Dunedin High School in Dunedin, FL in June 1997, Ron matriculated at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut where he was captain of the varsity baseball team in his senior year; he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in History on May 21, 2001.  Ron subsequently matriculated at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and graduated with a Juris Doctor (JD) degree on June 9, 2005.          

Ron DeSantis was sworn-into the U.S. Navy at the US Naval Reserve Center, Dallas, TX on May 28, 2004, and was commissioned as an Ensign while still matriculating at Harvard Law School.  In August of 2005, Ensign DeSantis commenced training at both Naval Officer Indoctrination Training Course and the US Naval Justice School in Newport, RI.  On October 3, 2005, he was given constructive credit for attending law school and promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade.  LT (jg) DeSantis completed US Naval Justice School in Newport in December 2005.  

In December 2005, LT (jg) DeSantis received orders to report to Trial Service Office Command Southeast at the US Naval Station, Mayport, FL as a military Prosecutor at the Naval Region Legal Service Office Southeast.  On June 1, 2006, LT (jg) DeSantis was promoted to Lieutenant.  LT DeSantis had recurring Temporary Duty Assignments on the staff of the Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Commander (JTF-GTMO), working directly for the JTF-GTMO Staff Judge Advocate on matters concerning the incarcerated terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay Joint Detention Facility; he was on duty in GTMO during Christmas of 2006.  

In July 2007, LT DeSantis received orders to report to the Naval Special Warfare Command Group ONE in Coronado, California; he was assigned to SEAL Team ONE and ordered to deploy to Iraq on October 7, 2007, with the troop surge.  LT DeSantis was assigned as the Legal Advisor to the SEAL Commander, Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah in support of the counterinsurgency missions, on a combat deployment with SEAL Team ONE with additional duty in Ramadi, Al Assad, Balad, and Baghdad.  For his duty assignment with SEAL Team ONE in support of counterinsurgency missions in Iraq, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal.

LT DeSantis returned to CONUS on April 15, 2008, at which time he was reassigned to the Naval Region Legal Service Office SE and earned an appointment with the U.S. Department of Justice to serve as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Florida until his orders elapsed on January 3, 2009.  LT DeSantis was assigned as a Trial Defense Counsel for the Naval Region Legal Service Office SE until he left active duty and was Honorably Discharged on February 28, 2010; he accepted a commission as a Lieutenant in the US Naval Reserve and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. 

Ron DeSantis became an accomplished military and federal prosecutor, authored a book entitled Dreams From Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama which was published in 2011.  He subsequently taught U.S. Military Law at home and abroad – a course he personally designed based on his operational experiences and court-martial cases – at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, FL.    

Lcdr DeSantis was elected to Congress in November 2012, was re-elected in 2014, and re-elected to a third term in 2016.  The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC again endorsed Congressman DeSantis, this time to run for Governor of Florida on June 18, 2018; he was elected as Florida’s 46th Governor in November 2018.  Since being elected as Florida’s Governor, his fellow Americans recognized him as one of the most popular and accomplished Governors in the Republic.  His accomplishments as Governor are as follows:

Gov DeSantis protected Florida’s elections integrity and is creating a law enforcement agency to investigate election crimes/fraud.  He hassigned legislation to adopt the strongest reforms in the nation in support of the "Election Integrity Act of 2021”.  He strengthened voter identification, imposed limits on the acceptance of the absentee ballots within 11 days of an election, banned ballot harvesting, banned unsolicited mailing ballots and Zucker bucks.  In 2020, Florida conducted one of the most transparent and efficient elections in the nation.

Gov DeSantis has fostered a strong economy, with 17 consecutive months of job growth, which exceeds the national average growth rate.  His tax policies have ensured the lowest per capita tax burden in the nation, he kept Florida open for business while protecting the jobs of all Floridians and small businesses, and his fiscal policies resulted in the highest budget reserves in Florida’s history.  

Gov DeSantis kept Florida open in the face of unprecedented media attacks, protected the right of Floridians to work, permitted businesses to operate, gave parents the right to send their children to in-person schooling.  He rejected initial CDC COVID vaccination prioritization in favor of prioritizing senior citizens.  He launched an early treatment initiative that raised awareness of, and expanded access to, monoclonal antibody treatments, providing Floridians with more than 150,000 treatments and reducing hospitalizations and deaths by the thousands. 

Gov DeSantis supported public safety by providing $1,000 bonuses for over 105,000 sworn law enforcement, first responders, and firefighters.  He passed strong anti-rioting legislation that imposed strong penalties for mob violence and safeguards against the defunding of the police by municipalities.  He banned sanctuary cities, sued the Biden administration over its open borders policies, appointed 5 Florida Supreme Court Judges and dozens of state courts judges.  In the 2022 legislative session he will establish the Florida State Guard, a civilian volunteer force to aid the National Guard in dealing with Florida-specific emergencies, provide $1,000 bonus checks for the second year in a row for all law enforcement officers, and will provide a $5,000 bonus for all new police officers and any police officers relocating to Florida from out of state.

Gov DeSantis secured record funding for K-12 schools, boosted teacher salaries by more than $550 million, and enacted pandemic bonuses for principals and teachers.  He implemented a state-wide, progress monitoring tool from grades K-8 to understand a student’s deficiencies and rapidly identify personalized interventions for students struggling in reading, math, and other subjects; Florida now ranks #3 in the nation in K-12 achievement.  He enacted the largest expansion of school choice in the country and expanded access to apprenticeships and skills-based education.  He empowered Florida’s educators with the tools to reach Florida’s 90 % literacy goal for all third graders, to read at grade-level by 2030.  He supported parental rights by prohibiting school mask mandates and banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory.

Gov DeSantis is a member of the VFW, the American Legion, the Association of the United States Navy, and Yale’s Baseball Alumni Association.  His writings have appeared in National Review Online, the Washington Times, The American Spectator, Human Events, and the American Thinker.  Gov DeSantis has been endorsed for re-election independently by 59 of the 67 Florida County Sheriffs, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Police Benevolent Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, and the Combat Veterans For Congress PAC.  

Governor Ron DeSantis has been married to the First Lady of Florida, Casey (Black) DeSantis for twelve years.  Casey is an Emmy Award-winning former television host of the show “First Coast Living,” a former TV news anchorwoman, and she is the centerpiece of the DeSantis family.  Ron and Casey are the proud parents of their three children, their daughter Madison age 6, their son Mason age 4, and their daughter Mamie age 1.  The family attends Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL and are devout Christians.      

The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is pleased to re-endorse Governor Ronald DeSantis, Lcdr-USNR (JAGC) for election to a second term as Governor of Florida.  Gov DeSantis will continue to employ outstanding management skills to govern the State of Florida and provide the wisdom to better solve problems facing Florida in the future.  If you review Governor DeSantis’s positions on his campaign Web site, you would be pleased with his policies; they also agree with the Combat Veterans For Congress Mission Statement.  We look forward to supporting Governor DeSantis and are pleased that a Combat Veteran of his caliber is running for re-election as the 46th Governor of Florida. 
 

If you have friends, associates, or relatives who know voters in Florida, kindly pass this E-mail on to them, and ask them to support Governor DeSantis by working in his campaign, by providing financial support for his campaign in any amount, or with a donation of $17.75 to memorize the year the US Navy was created by the Continental Congress, and/or by networking with others who would be willing to support his re-election campaign.  The military is one of the few remaining institutions producing the caliber of men and women needed to restore this nation to the greatness our Founding Fathers envisioned.  We have endorsed another Combat Veteran For Congress that General George Washington would have approved of.  He is a Veteran who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount “up to and including his life.”