Campaign

DeSantis releases new 2022 ad: ‘God made a fighter’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) released a new campaign ad on Friday ahead of Election Day next week that depicts him as a “fighter” for God. 

DeSantis’s wife, Casey, posted the ad on her Twitter account, saying to her husband, “On behalf of millions of people, never stop fighting for freedom.” 

The narrator’s lines in the ad appear to be based on a speech that radio broadcaster Paul Harvey gave in 1978, entitled “So God Made a Farmer.” 

“And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a protector.’ So God made a fighter,” DeSantis’s ad begins. 

The ad shows pictures of DeSantis meeting with officials and civilians while serving as governor. It describes a series of traits God “said” he needs in someone, including a willingness to “travel thousands of miles for no other reason than to serve the people, to save their jobs, their livelihoods, their liberty, their happiness.” 

The narrator’s description of each trait ends in him saying, “So God made a fighter.” 

DeSantis is running for reelection for a second term as governor of Florida against Democrat Charlie Crist, a former governor and member of the House. Polls have shown DeSantis with large leads, and FiveThirtyEight’s polling average has him leading Crist by almost 12 points. 

DeSantis has also been rumored to be a possible contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Polls have consistently shown him in second place to former President Trump in a hypothetical Republican primary.