Ron and Casey mourn with 9/11 families at Ground Zero: Florida governor vows to ‘never forget’ as couple greet grieving relatives who personally invited them to 22nd anniversary

Ron and Casey DeSantis joined families of September 11th victims at the World Trade Center on Monday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the attacks.

Seven families invited Florida’s first couple to meet with them at the site of the attacks. 

The couple were seen walking around the memorial site, talking to family members and taking photos with them.  

Ron and Casey DeSantis were at the World Trade Center at the same time as Vice President Kamala Harris, who was there to formally mark the ocassion on behalf of President Joe Biden, who is spending the anniversary in Alaska. Biden is returning from a trip to the G20 and Vietnam. 

First lady Jill Biden will visit the Pentagon and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will be in Shanksville. 

‘Twenty-two years ago, nineteen terrorists took 2,977 innocent lives in the deadliest attack against America in our history. We will never forget,’ DeSantis wrote on X, formally known as Twitter. 

Every year a ceremony is held at Ground Zero to honor the nearly 3,000 killed on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 

DeSantis said the terrorist attack inspired him to join the Navy after law school, where he served as a JAG office and was stationed in Iraq. 

The Florida governor is the only veteran in the Republican presidential race and his military service as been part of his campaign narrative, including in a major campaign ad that features footage of the attack and DeSantis in uniform.

Additionally, Casey DeSantis brought a 9/11 victim’s son who has criticized Donald Trump for hosting a Saudi-backed golf tournament as one of her guests to the first Republican presidential debate.

The Florida first lady was joined in Milwaukee by Sean Passananti and his daughter Nicole Passananti. Sean’s father was killed in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. 

‘I’m somebody that volunteered to serve, inspired by September 11th,’ Ron DeSantis said during the debate. He noted he was deployed to Iraq and it taught him to focus ‘on the mission above all else.’

‘That is how I would view being President of the United States. It’s not about me.  It’s not about all these other side issues. My sole focus would be on your future and reversing this country’s decline.’

Ron and Casey DeSantis talked to families of the victims of the attack

Ron DeSantis poses for a photo with a family member

In May, DeSantis hosted veterans, Gold Star families and relatives who lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks at the Florida Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee for a Memorial Day barbeque.