Here’s How Much Ron DeSantis Is Worth

Ron DeSantis, the person best positioned to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has more in common with Barack Obama than his Republican rival—at least when it comes to personal finances. DeSantis, who currently serves as Florida’s governor, has limited private sector business experience and a personal balance sheet to match. At the end of last year, he was worth about $320,000 and still owed roughly $20,000 in student loans, according to a financial disclosure report he filed in June.

Things should change soon, if they haven’t already. Politico reported in February that DeSantis secured a lucrative book deal with HarperCollins, the publishing giant owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Neither DeSantis nor HarperCollins responded to requests for comment, so it remains unclear exactly how much money might be involved. One anonymous source told Politico that DeSantis had backed out of a “handshake deal” with another publisher that was worth nearly $2 million.

That figure is in line with the first big payday that Obama received after he burst onto the national scene as a senate candidate from Illinois. In 2005, he inked a three-book, $1.9 million deal with Random House. The money grew as his profile expanded. From 2007 to 2009, when Obama transformed from a senator to a president, he earned $12.6 million, according to his tax returns. Even if DeSantis does not defeat Trump, he might still get rich trying. Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, who both lost primaries, nonetheless made small fortunes by cashing in on the publicity that comes with presidential campaigns.

DeSantis, born in Florida to a working-class family, is not accustomed to big money. A strong student and talented athlete, he went to college at Yale, where he captained the baseball team. After graduating, DeSantis joined the history department at a Georgia private school, before heading to law school at Harvard. He received his diploma in 2005 and went to work for the U.S. Navy. At 27 years old, DeSantis had two prestigious degrees, a pile of student loans and a modest government salary.

The military might not have provided much money, but it did offer some perks, like access to generous lending programs. In 2009, DeSantis worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs to purchase a $307,500 home outside of Jacksonville, borrowing $314,000, even more than the property cost. He transitioned to the Navy Reserve in 2010, the same year he married his wife, Casey, a local television personality.

In 2011, DeSantis worked at the Florida-based law firm Holland & Knight, earning $128,000. He also published a political book, “Dreams From Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama,” riffing on the title of the 44th president’s memoir. DeSantis only received an estimated $20,000 from his first stint as an author.

He soon delved deeper into politics, winning a congressional seat in 2012. He served on Capitol Hill for nearly six years, stashing part of his $174,000 salary into a savings plan while he was there. He also briefly expanded his real estate portfolio, purchasing a $242,000 home in Palm Coast, Fla. in 2016. He sold it two years later for $275,000, paying off the mortgage and pocketing a small profit.

By then, DeSantis was focused on his first gubernatorial campaign. He defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum by a narrow margin, allowing DeSantis to upgrade his housing situation. His family sold its home near Jacksonville for $460,000—about $150,000 more than Ron had paid to purchase it—and moved into the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee.

DeSantis’ two home sales were poorly timed, preventing him from taking advantage of the pandemic-fueled surge in Florida real estate prices. If the governor, who currently earns about $140,000 a year, had been able to hang onto his houses, he might have been a half million dollars richer by the end of last year. Instead, he was worth just $320,000, less than the average American his age.

But DeSantis, 44, seems to be on the cusp of earning a lot more money.