DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: First Lady Casey DeSantis on Iowa Media

"If they want to sling mud at me, go for it. It's not going to make me back down. It's probably only going to make me want to work harder."

Des Moines, IA - This week, Casey DeSantis joined KGAN's Iowa News Now, AM 600 WMT's The Doug Wagner Show, Radio Iowa, and WHO's The Simon Conway Show. The highlights are below.

Watch the full segment on Iowa News Now here.

On letting kids be kids:

We want kids to be kids. We don't want them to turn on a cartoon and have somebody shove an agenda down their throat. We want to protect their innocence, and we also want to make sure that we're standing up for the rights of parents.

On her plans as FLOTUS:

I want to be able to do everything that I can to be able to help people in need. And I've done that in Florida, and I'd like to do that across the United States of America. Particularly I've been helping single moms on a pathway to self-sufficiency.

Listen to the full interview with Simon Conway here.

On campaigning with the kids:

We bring them with us on the campaign trail a lot, one, because you know they grow up so quickly, right? You blink your eye, they're in college. I don't want to miss any of this time. But also, I think it's very important and you can never start too early to tell the kids about what we're doing and what we're fighting for. We're fighting for the very foundations of this country. If we don't stand up now and fight for what we believe in, we're in jeopardy of being the first generation to lose the idea of America. I mean, my son is so funny. So we're on the bus and we're traveling around in Iowa. He's a huge FSU fan, Florida State University, and they were playing and when we were on the bus, we either missed the national anthem or they didn't play it one or the other, he's, so he's hugely patriotic. He had everybody on the bus stop what they were doing. He played the national anthem, he even had the bus driver putting his hand over his heart because we had to play the national anthem. But I mean, it's important he understands too, you know, the honor and sacrifice that our people in uniform has put forth to be able to protect our liberties. And so it is important that they understand that. But as far as taking the hits, like listen Simon, I do not care if they come after me. It does not bother me one bit. Because at the end of the day, I want to look myself in the mirror and say did I do it right? When the good Lord gives you an opportunity to fight to make a difference, what do you do with it? And I'll tell you, frankly, Nothing can be worse than hearing the words, you have cancer. And that happened to me two years ago, and I was able to fight through that. So if they want to sling mud at me, go for it. It's not going to make me back down. It's probably only going to make me want to work harder.

On why Ron DeSantis is a proven leader:

I have watched him for years and this goes back to before he was elected governor. I've seen how he's operated. I have seen him hold the line in defense of people's rights, liberties, livelihoods, and happiness, particularly when it came to COVID when the entire world descended upon Ron DeSantis, to try to get him to bend the knee, to back down, to lock down, to lock the kids out of the state. He rejected all of that. He stood up for what he knew was right. And for me as a wife from the perspective of I saw him behind the scenes, but I also saw him fighting in front of the cameras. It would be malpractice. Listen, I would not be able to look at myself in the mirror knowing what I know about Ron DeSantis. How he fights--, he is literally willing to put himself in front of a freight train to stand up for the people of his state and this country knowing that there's no way that I can just sit idly by and not get out and just sing his praises.

Listen to the full interview with Doug Wagner here.

On Ron DeSantis' debate with Gavin Newsom:

It really is a referendum on the future of America. It's not a debate between Florida and California, because if you want to have the debate, the debate is over. People are fleeing California and they're coming to the great state of Florida and also Iowa. They've actually run out of U-Haul's in California because of the really progressive policies out there. And so this is about what do you want for the future of America, because you see Ron DeSantis, running for President of the United States, you see hope in the future of everything that Florida has done. But you know, here's Gavin Newsom, and you know very well that he is plotting to go into the White House. But his state represents decline. It's everything that we don't want. We want to protect our God given rights and our constitutional freedoms. They want to take those away from you. And case in point, one of the big parts of the debate is going to be COVID. He was locking down his people for three years, he was shutting kids out of school, all the while he was sending his kids to in-person education. But in the state of Florida, the governor held the line and held the line strongly. And that was in the midst of unrelenting attacks on him for months and months and months about how he needed to bend the knee to what the elites in Washington wanted him to do. He never relented. And that too is really important because at the end of the day, when you get somebody into Washington to be President, I want somebody with a strength, courage and a backbone to stand up for what is right. And that is exactly what Ron DeSantis did.

On why it's important to show up and make your case to Iowa voters:

I've heard this from a lot of folks across the state of Iowa and beyond. They want him to make the case. No one is anointed, no one is given anything in life, you have to go out and earn it. And that is one of the reasons why Ron DeSantis has done and will do 99 counties across Iowa, as of Saturday. But listen, you have a record, let's run on it. Let's talk about why the border didn't get built. Why didn't you have Mexico pay for it? Because you could have. You got to put a fee on the remittances coming from the United States to Mexico to build the border wall. When you said, you know, we want to try to hold Hillary Clinton accountable for what she did with her server. But then afterwards said, well, I didn't really want to do it because you know, it was good to say in the campaign, but now she's beautiful Hillary, well, that gave the deep state of the swamp, all kinds of momentum to continue to grow. You look at the 8 trillion that was spent under his watch in his four years, which is almost as much as Obama's fed over the entire term that he was in office. There's some real issues that people want to talk about.

Read the full article by O. Kay Henderson on Radio Iowa here.

On standing strong despite attacks:

I could have been taking the easy path where sometimes when you're not out putting yourself in the arena, you're not going to get hit, but I saw it as an opportunity not necessarily about me, but about the position as first lady, to be able to do good on behalf of the people of Florida and hopefully of the country...When you're standing up for what you know in your heart is right, you're going to get attacked. People are going to come after you. You just have to stand strong and you know the truth and remember: 'Mission first.' And that is saving this country.