Florida governor Ron DeSantis, once seen as Donald Trump’s leading rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, needs a solid performance in the January 15th Iowa caucus, the first party nominating contest, to save his struggling campaign.

Mr DeSantis trails former US president Trump by over 30 points and needs to place a strong second. A blowout loss or third-place finish behind former UN ambassador Nikki Haley would raise questions about the future of his candidacy.

Here are some facts about Mr DeSantis’ life and political career.

A life in the public sector

Mr DeSantis, 45, has spent most of his career in public service and government.

While at Harvard Law School, he was commissioned as an officer in the US Navy and, upon graduation, joined the Judge Advocate General Corps as an attorney.

In that role, he was assigned to the military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he oversaw the treatment of detainees. Later, he was deployed to Iraq to advise a team of Navy SEALs.

Mr DeSantis worked briefly as an assistant US attorney in Florida before a successful bid for a US congressional seat in 2012. He served in Congress before running for governor in 2018.

Trump ties

Mr DeSantis was largely a political unknown statewide in Florida when he sought the governor’s office and was not favoured to win the Republican nomination.

Then he got an endorsement from then-president Trump, whom he praised on the campaign trail and in TV ads. Mr DeSantis ultimately won the election by a tight margin.

Mr Trump has since taken credit for Mr DeSantis’ victory and accused his fellow Republican of being disloyal for considering challenging him for the presidential nomination. He won re-election by nearly 20 percentage points in 2022.

A strong executive

Mr DeSantis has wielded power by influencing legislation, punishing critics and packing state courts, offices and boards with allies. Some political observers in the state capital say he is the most powerful and feared governor in state history.

Mr DeSantis in his speeches said he believed he had a mandate to take full advantage of the powers afforded the governor, saying he wanted to take “all the meat off the bone”.

Covid-19 and culture warrior

Mr DeSantis is married to Casey Black, whom he met when she was a TV reporter. They have three children.

He made his name nationally by opposing many of the policies advocated by the US government to prevent the spread of Covid-19. He resisted mask and vaccine mandates and was determined to keep Florida businesses and tourism destinations open during the bulk of the pandemic.

He has since become a leading figure within the Republican Party in fighting back against what he argues are overly progressive policies favoured by educators and corporations.

He has pushed the state legislature to pass prohibitions against the teaching of “Critical Race Theory” – which argues the United States is riven with systemic racism – and concepts of gender identity in public schools.

Lawmakers also recently passed a ban on asset managers utilising environmental, social and governance factors in making investments. Mr DeSantis in April signed a bill into law that bans most abortions in Florida after six weeks.

Mr DeSantis is a persistent critic of federal immigration policies. In 2022, he was praised by conservatives and condemned by Democrats when he chartered two planes to fly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.

Disney feud

Mr DeSantis has been embroiled in a public fight with Walt Disney Co, which was critical of his efforts to limit school instruction on gender identity.

Mr DeSantis attempted to strip the Walt Disney World theme park of its self-governing powers, and the company responded with a lawsuit. The company’s CEO, Bob Iger, has called Mr DeSantis “anti-business”.

Disney also scrapped plans to build a nearly $1 billion corporate campus in central Florida that would have housed 2,000 employees.