佛罗里达州州长。罗恩·德桑蒂斯将自己标榜为保守价值观的“斗士”。但是当他继续的时候他最初的总统竞选摇摆通过三个提前提名的州，他努力突出另一面——作为父亲和丈夫——因为他适应了说服初选选民经常需要的亲密活动。
在爱荷华州西部小镇萨利克斯的一个周三上午的活动中，德桑蒂斯和他的妻子凯西进行了一场客厅式的谈话，交流了他们三个年幼孩子的轶事，试图让选民们难得一瞥这位佛罗里达州领导人的家庭生活，他通常避开主流媒体。
在一个巨大的焊接仓库的舞台上，一个巨大的绿色John Deere作为背景，这对夫妇坐在灰色的扶手椅上，每个人都穿着牛仔裤，他们讲述的故事引起了大约100名观众的笑声。
这位州长开玩笑说，当他和前电视记者凯西(Casey)在4月份带着他们的两个孩子去日本执行贸易任务时，“我们从来没有安排好时间，所以他们会在凌晨2点起床。”
“我学到的一件事是，我知道当早餐室服务开始时，因为他们需要食物，”他说他的孩子。
然后，他记起了一次单独的育儿出游，去参观塔拉哈西的一家新餐馆，以及他3岁的女儿需要使用浴室时的曲线球时刻。
“所以我们真的只是坐在免下车餐馆里。所以她不得不走，所以我就说，好吧，我带她进去，我们进去，她摇摇头，我就说，'什么?'她说，“小便壶，小便壶。”我就说，‘苗条的鸡里没有小便壶!”他说。
这场旨在强调其非正式性的聊天之前，这位州长发表了30分钟的政策密集的巡回演讲，抨击华盛顿的官僚和自由机构，模仿了他前一天晚上的言论。在他在一个大教堂的首次活动中靠近得梅因。
但即使是在一个旨在揭示州长可联系的一面的环境中，德桑蒂斯有时也会滑回演讲模式，谈到他和凯西为打击芬太尼的传播所做的努力，并吹捧他任命保守的董事会成员到坦帕地区一所小学院的决定。
入学人数不到700人的佛罗里达新学院之争登上了某些全国性新闻媒体的版面，但不清楚艾奥瓦人对这场争议有多少了解，德桑蒂斯将其称为他与“沃克”斗争的又一努力。
“所以我们在萨拉索塔有一所小型的文科学院，叫做新学院。我不认为这个房间里的任何人可能听说过它，”这位州长说，他承认在被告知其“意识形态”之前从来不知道这个机构
58岁的与会者、海军老兵戴夫·克里斯滕森(Dave Christensen)在活动开始前告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，他被德桑蒂斯的政策立场所吸引，并希望“看到这个人”
“我想看看他是什么样的人，他的个性是什么样的，”克里斯腾森说。“我想看他和我说话。”
离开会场时，克里斯滕森似乎很满意，尽管他承认他对明年年初支持谁获得共和党提名持“开放态度”。克里斯滕森在州长工作时与德桑蒂斯进行了短暂互动。
“到目前为止，他回答了我想要的一切，至少今天是这样。他回答了我的问题，”克里斯滕森告诉ABC新闻。
这位州长在周三的其他三场活动中没有复制与凯西的“炉边聊天”，而是选择在讲台后度过时间，在每一站都将舞台让给他的妻子几分钟，分享更多关于他们作为父母的生活。
竞选活动的一名发言人表示，萨利克斯事件并不是这对夫妇第一次在旅途中就他们的家庭生活进行非正式谈话，他们在州长宣布竞选总统之前就这样做了。
这位发言人没有回答该活动是否计划在未来举办类似活动的问题。德桑蒂斯与凯西一起竞选并不罕见:候选人包括他们的配偶在内，以向公众展示他们自己不同的一面。
2023年5月31日，在爱荷华州的萨利克斯，共和党总统候选人佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯在尼尔港焊接公司的竞选集会上听他妻子凯西讲话。
斯科特·奥尔森/盖蒂图片社
31岁的凯蒂·道奇(Katie Dodge)是内布拉斯加州奥马哈市的居民，她跨越州界观看了州长在康瑟尔布拉夫斯的演讲，她说她“完全相信”德桑蒂斯，她称他为“严肃的政治家”，他“只是走进去，让他所做的工作表明他的立场和他为之奋斗的目标，我认为他是为所有美国人而奋斗。”
道奇的母亲明迪也是德桑蒂斯的支持者，她承认州长还有表现得更有风度的空间，但坚持认为他的政策和职业道德抵消了这种品质。
“好吧，他是否需要更多的魅力来与观众沟通?是啊，可能吧。但你知道他有什么吗?他是一个努力工作的人，他把事情做好了。这是我们现在最需要的，”她说。
在德桑蒂斯周二晚上在克莱夫举行的首场集会之前，45岁的亚历克斯·格雷德尔(Alex Greadel)说，他“在我在网上看到的一些视频互动中看到了(德桑蒂斯与选民的对话)，但这与我无关。”
尽管如此，审查仍在继续:周四在新罕布什尔州，德桑蒂斯在一站与与会者周旋，美联社的一名记者问他为什么不回答选民的问题。
视频显示，德桑蒂斯问记者，“你在说什么?”
“我在这里和人们在一起，”他说。“你瞎了吗?”
Ron DeSantis' wife joins him on the campaign trail as voters say they want to 'see the man'
Florida Gov.Ron DeSantispitches himself as a "fighter" for conservative values. But as he continueshis initial presidential campaign swingthrough three early nominating states, he's working to highlight another side -- as a dad and husband -- as he adjusts to the intimate events often required to persuade primary voters.
At one Wednesday morning event in the western town of Salix, Iowa, DeSantis and his wife, Casey, engaged in a living room-style conversation, swapping anecdotes about their three young kids that sought to give voters a rare glimpse into the home life of Florida's leader, who has generally avoided the mainstream press.
Seated in grey armchairs on a stage inside a vast welding warehouse, where a massive green John Deere served as a backdrop, the couple, each in jeans, told stories that elicited laughs from the audience of roughly 100.
The governor joked that when he and Casey, a former TV reporter, brought two of their children to Japan in April on a trade mission, "We never got on a schedule time wise, so they'd be up at 2 in the morning."
"The one thing I learned is I learned when breakfast room service starts -- because they needed food," he said of his kids.
He then remembered a solo parenting outing, going to visit a new Tallahassee restaurant, and the curveball moment when his 3-year-old daughter needed to use the bathroom.
"So we're literally just in a drive-thru just sitting there. And so she had to go, so I was like, OK I'll take her inside, so we go in and we get in there, and she shakes her head and I'm like, 'What?' And she's like, 'Little potty, little potty.' And I'm like, 'They don't have little potty in Slim Chickens!'" he said.
The chat, designed to emphasize its informality, followed a 30-minute, policy-dense stump speech from the governor bashing bureaucratic Washington and liberal institutions that mimicked his remarks the previous night,at his kickoff event at a large churchnear Des Moines.
But even in a setting meant to reveal a relatable side of the governor, DeSantis sometimes slipped back into speech mode, touching on his and Casey's efforts to combat the spread of fentanyl and touting his decision to appoint conservative board members to a small Tampa-area college.
The battle over the New College of Florida, with an enrollment of less than 700, reached the pages of certain national news outlets, but it's unclear how much Iowans were aware of the controversy, billed by DeSantis as another of his efforts to fight the "woke."
"So we've got a small liberal arts college in Sarasota called New College. I don't think anyone in this room probably heard of it," said the governor, who admitted to having never known of the institution until being informed of its "ideology."
Dave Christensen, a 58-year-old attendee and a Navy veteran, told ABC News before the event that he was drawn to DeSantis' policy stances and was hoping "to see the man."
"I want to see what's he's like, what his personality is like," Christensen said. "I want to see him talking to me."
As he left the venue, Christensen, who interacted briefly with DeSantis as the governor worked the crowd, seemed satisfied, though he acknowledged he was staying "open-minded" about who to support for the Republican nomination early next year.
"So far, he's answered everything I was kind of after, today anyway. He answered my questions," Christensen told ABC News.
The governor did not replicate the "fireside chat" with Casey at his other three events on Wednesday, opting to spend his time behind a lectern, ceding the stage to his wife for several minutes at each stop to share more about their life as parents.
A spokesperson for the campaign said the Salix event was not the first time the couple has held informal conversations on the trail about their home life, saying they did so before the governor announced his candidacy for president.
The spokesperson did not answer a question about whether the campaign plans to feature similar events in the future. DeSantis campaigning with Casey is not unusual: Candidates include their spouses on the trail in order to show a different side of themselves to the public.
Katie Dodge, 31, a resident of Omaha, Nebraska, who crossed state lines to see the governor speak in Council Bluffs, said she was "all in" on DeSantis, whom she called a "no-nonsense politician" who "just goes in and lets the work that he does show for where he stands and what he's fighting for, and I think that he's fighting for all Americans."
Dodge's mother, Mindy, also a DeSantis supporter, acknowledged there was space for the governor to appear more personable but insisted he offset that quality with his policies and work ethic.
"OK, does he maybe need some more charisma to connect with audiences? Yeah, probably. But you know what he does have? He's a hard worker and he gets things done. And more than anything right now, that's what we need," she said.
Before DeSantis' kickoff rally on Tuesday night in Clive, Alex Greadel, 45, said he had "seen [DeSantis speaking with voters] in some of the video interactions that I've seen online, but that doesn't concern me at all."
Still, the scrutiny continues: In New Hampshire on Thursday, DeSantis was making the round with attendees at one stop when a reporter with the Associated Press asked him why he didn't take questions from voters.
Video shows DeSantis asking the reporter, "What are you talking about?"
"I'm out here [with] people," he said. "Are you blind?"
