The Real Ron DeSantis: From Minor League Star to Trump Rival

Mr. DeSantis was a star player on the Dunedin Falcons high school baseball team. Photo: Ron DeSantis/Yale Athletics

In the small town of Dunedin on the Florida Gulf Coast, Ron DeSantis' parents still live in the modest brick bungalow where the future presidential candidate grew up.

His father, Ron DeSantis- senior, does not open the door for them. reporters after an interview last year in which he talked too much about his son being «stubborn» as a child.

Neighbors remember the current Florida governor playing basketball in their driveway. Back then, he called himself «D» for Ron and briefly became something of a local celebrity at the age of 12 when his Little League baseball team advanced to the World Series, eventually losing to Taiwan.

Italian-American Mr. DeSantis' family — all eight of his great-grandparents lived in Italy — bought a 1,829-square-foot house. feet in 1985 for $65,000. Now valued at $420,000, it has a two-car garage and a small lawn.

To make a living, his father installed Nielsen TV rating boxes throughout the area, and his mother, Karen, worked as a nurse.

p>>

Mr. DeSantis described his upbringing in Dunedin as «blue-collar,» but it was Florida's working-class style.

young Mr. DeSantis as an enthusiastic athlete

Palm trees are scattered between individual houses on the grid of streets where he lived. An orange sports car is parked in one nearby driveway, while a large boat is for sale in another.

There are no factories or mines in Dunedin, and some of the best beaches in the world are just a short drive away.

This contained a dilemma that many Republican voters across the country are experiencing, not to mention Mr. DeSantis' own street.

< p>«I think Trump is a good job as a president, but I'm not crazy about him as a person,» the neighbor explained. “[Mr. DeSantis] has a lot of the same values, but without the personality of [Mr. Trump].

«I love what he's done for Florida,» she added. “We need someone much stronger and better than now. He'd do a good job.”

Young Mr. DeSantis was obsessed with baseball and played Minor League three miles from his home at Fisher Field, where there are half a dozen pristine fields waving US flags. on the home run fences.

He went to elementary school at nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church and then to Dunedin High School, a sprawling brick complex next to the church, with two more churches across the road.

The school has two. large images of pipers on the front with the caption: «The best bands wear kilts.» The city's name comes from Edinburgh, and the annual Dunedin-Highland Games are held here.

At school, Mr. DeSantis was very bright. According to an entry in his senior yearbook, he was US History Student of the Year and won a Princeton Book Award as well as numerous baseball awards while playing for the Falcons high school team.

There was no mention of any teen political activism in the yearbook. His main non-academic activities were baseball and part-time jobs, including at a local restaurant, Kash n' Karry.

Ron and Casey DeSantis got married in 2009

Given that he is by far the most successful person now from Dunedin ahead of Game of Thrones director David Nutter, many Dunedinians are surprisingly reluctant to accept it.

Julie Ward Bujalski, mayor of the city of Dunedin, which is west of Tampa and has a population of 36,000, politely declined to comment on the city's most famous son.

Instead, a city spokesman said: «We appreciate and are proud that we have a number of influential people from Dunedin, including the governor.

«We do not think it is appropriate to discuss the governor, given that he is seeking a higher post in a biased way, and we are a non-partisan community.»< /p>

Dunedin has a vibrant arts community, teeming with studios and galleries, and home to many artists.

Huettig Electric, once the home of Mr. DeSantis and sponsor of his Little League team, is now a high-end condo a house called The Craftsman with modern art in the lobby.

There is an organic supermarket, a tap dance studio, an art institute and independent cafes along the street.

'This is not San Francisco &# 39;

“Most people would say that our city is progressive. It's not San Francisco, but it's open and diverse,» said Bob Hackworth, 67, who served as Democratic mayor from 2005 to 2010.

«I find it hard to understand how our city's culture has contributed to politics [ DeSantis] because they completely contradict each other.”

The biggest attraction of Dunedin nightlife for decades has been the drag show at Blur, a club on Main Street. When Mr. DeSantis was growing up, it was called Dallape's.

Some in Dunedin strongly objected to the Governor's recent signing of a law banning drag shows in front of children.

«Growing up in this city where there was a famous bar and drag shows were on all the time,» said Mr. Hackworth. “He had to be fully aware of what was going on.”

The former mayor added: “There was no real connection to the city. He had some success in the Little League, but disappeared after high school. I don't think that even when he ran for governor, the city wasn't mentioned.»

Mr. DeSantis does not generally display a public connection to Dunedin. relationship with his hometown in his book The Courage to Be Free.

He wrote that he was «geographically raised in Tampa Bay,» but «culturally, my upbringing reflected the working-class communities of western Pennsylvania and the northeastern Ohio, from attending church weekly to waiting for someone to earn a living.”

Mr. DeSantis will never be known as «The Dunedin Ron» in the same way that Joe Biden is known as «Scranton Joe».

Although he moved from Scranton, Pennsylvania to Wilmington, Delaware as a child , Mr. Biden mentions his birth in the industrial heartland of America almost daily.

There is, however, something deeply American about Mr. DeSantis' upbringing.

Millions of voters have grown up playing the same baseball fields, dreaming of the big leagues as he did, and working in local family stores.

It was a childhood in the suburbs, which, unlike Mr. Trump's childhood, many will consider similar to their own. < /p>

Mr. DeSantis is expected to hold his 2024 campaign kickoff rally next week at Dunedin's TB Stadium, which the Toronto Blue Jays use for spring training.

< p>In 2008, Barack Obama held a rally at the same location, attracting 11,000 people.

It is not yet clear if Dunedin will perform in such numbers for his famous son.