Florida first lady honored with GOP award, lauds husband for fighting for moms

Florida first lady Casey DeSantis won an award celebrating Republican women in South Florida on Saturday and lauded her husband Gov. Ron DeSantis for his work championing issues important to mothers. 

“We are mammas on a mission to protect our children. In Florida, the buck stops with the parents,” DeSantis said Saturday at the Women of Distinction Awards Program and Gala, which was held at St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in Fort Myers. She was honored with the Woman of Inspiration Award during the event. 

The award ceremony is a highly-anticipated event for Republican women in South Florida and has a history dating back to 2016 honoring women making strides in their career and community. 

DeSantis praised her husband for standing up and supporting mothers and issues important to them, such as education. 

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“In Florida, school board members are term limited, something I wish would apply to members of Congress in Washington,” she said.

Florida has been among the leading Republican states to decry and block critical race theory from classrooms, as well as prohibit transgender athletes from competing in female sports and signing into law a parental rights bill that bans teachers from giving instruction on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade.

“In Florida, biological women compete with women and biological men compete with men,” DeSantis said Saturday. 

Florida’s first lady returned to the campaign trail last month after a battle with breast cancer and celebrated how many Americans have recently flocked to Florida to live in a state where freedom is respected and enacted. 

“I look forward to telling Florida’s story of success and why thousands of new residents are flocking to the Sunshine State in the name of Freedom,” she said in a statement to Fox News at the time.

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During the event on Saturday, DeSantis highlighted that the number of registered Republicans has surpassed Democrats this year compared to Gov. DeSantis’ gubernatorial run in 2018. 

“Now with more folks moving to Florida – you may be asking – will they vote for the failed policies of the states they’ve left behind?” she asked the audience of roughly 350 people. 

“Well, to give you an idea … When the governor was elected in 2018, there were nearly 300,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans,” she said. “There are now 176,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats.”

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Fox News Digital exclusively reported in March that Republican voters outnumbered Democrats by over 100,000 for the first time in the state’s history due to both new registrants and party switches.

The governor’s office cited the state’s low unemployment rates, “the palpable sense of freedom” due to the governor’s policies, and Gov. DeSantis serving as “a champion for families and businesses alike” for the increase in Republican voters. 

“I think it’s safe to say that people across the nation fled to Florida for Freedom,” Florida’s first lady added in her remarks Saturday.