Taxpayer costs to transport and protect Gov. Ron DeSantis and his family surged during the year that included much of his failed presidential campaign, according to state reports.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement annual reports show the state spent about $12.318 million during the 2023-2024 fiscal year and $11.146 million during the 2024-2025 fiscal year on transportation and security for the DeSantis family and visiting officials.
The 2023-2024 fiscal year included a substantial amount of the time DeSantis ran for the Republican presidential nomination. He dropped out of the race in January 2024.
The reports were first reported and posted by the USA Today Network.
A 2023 law shields from release detailed travel records of the governor and other state leaders. People covered by the law include the governor's immediate family, the lieutenant governor, Cabinet members, the House speaker, the Senate president and the chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court.
The law also allows keeping from the public the names of people visiting the governor's mansion on non-governmental matters.
The total amounts of spending in the new reports are up from the 2022-2023 fiscal year when costs reached $9.876 million and 2021-2022 when they were at $6.097 million.
The majority of the costs in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 went toward guarding and transporting DeSantis and his family and protecting the governor's mansion in Tallahassee. The state's fiscal years run from July 1 through June 30.
In 2023-2024, $9.776 million went toward protecting the governor, with an additional $853,780 for First Lady Casey DeSantis and other members of the first family, and $1.44 million for securing the governor's mansion.
The governor and first lady have three young children.
Transportation expenses accounted for $3.875 million of the costs involving the first family.
DeSantis' announced his presidential candidacy on May 24, 2023, and he suspended the campaign on Jan. 21, 2024.
An additional $244,181 went toward 80 separate law-enforcement details related to dignitaries --- mostly governors of other states --- visiting Florida.
The largest single expense, $74,144, stemmed from the Democratic Governors Association winter meeting in Miami in April 2024.
The state also spent $10,794 to protect then-Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. in late May 2024. At the time, the Department of Education was facing criticism over issues related to teacher pay and school closures.
In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, costs for the governor decreased to $8.02 million, with the first family costs at $864,427 and protecting the governor's mansion at $1.77 million.
Transportation accounted for $3.3 million of the costs.
There were also 113 protective details for visiting dignitaries, totaling $489,352.
The Republican Governors Association meeting in Fort Myers in November led to $185,643 in state law-enforcement costs.
President Joe Biden's tour of Hurricane Helene damage in October, which included Air Force One landing at Tallahassee International Airport, required $2,336 in state law-enforcement costs.
As in past years, the report doesn't outline how security details were staffed or how they operated.
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