Florida first lady Casey DeSantis further stoked speculation that she may run for governor in 2026, telling an audience “we’ll see” when asked about launching a bid. 

The state’s first lady praised her husband, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), during a panel at the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit in National Harbor, Md., on Friday, calling him “the GOAT.”

“I’ve been around politics, and I’ve seen a lot of people. Not a lot of people have a backbone like him. They get into office because they wanna be somebody,” DeSantis said. 

“I have to just applaud him, because all of what he has done is extremely fragile, right? Like, you could get somebody in, and all of this revert back. And I’ll tell you, Florida, like, in so many instances, it is the free state, and it is an inspiration to a lot of other states across the United States, but having the opportunity to travel around the world, people across the globe know about what he has done, and they are so proud. So it’s the long-winded answer of saying, you know, we’ll see, right? We’ll see,” she said. 

Last month, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) became the first Republican to jump into the race to replace the governor, who is term-limited. Donalds also has the coveted backing of former President Trump. 

The governor and the congressman notably fell out during the 2024 Republican presidential primary when Donalds endorsed Trump over DeSantis. They also had friction over state education guidelines set by DeSantis on African American history in 2023.

The governor initially had now-Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) in mind to be his successor but instead tapped her to replace now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Senate. 

Polling paints a muddled picture of a potential primary faceoff between Donalds and Casey DeSantis.

According to a poll published last month by the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab, 57 percent of registered Republicans said they had a favorable view of DeSantis. Donalds had a 27 percent favorability rating. 

However, an internal poll from Donalds’s campaign pollster Fabrizio Lee and Associated released last week showed Donalds with a 34 percent to 30 percent lead over DeSantis.