A new television advertisement from Team Trump targets an "ungrateful" Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after former President Donald Trump's 2018 GOP primary endorsement flipped him about 30 points in the polls against challenger Adam Putnam.
According to the ad, DeSantis was trailing Putnam by 17-points until Trump endorsed him in June 2018.
"DeSantis was saved by the endorsement of [then] President Trump," the ad said. "Trump's support was so powerful [that] just two days after the endorsement, DeSantis took a commanding lead and it propelled him to being elected governor."
The Orlando Sentinel reported in august 2018 that Putnam led DeSantis 32% to 17% the day before Trump's endorsement, flipping to a 41% to 29% advantage for DeSantis by July 27, 2018, leading him to a 20-point primary victory and eventual narrow 2018 general election victory, winning by only 33,000 votes.
"I'd like to thank our president for standing by me when it wasn't necessarily the smart thing to do," Trump's ad shows DeSantis saying after his 2018 victory.
The ad then goes on to say that "instead of being grateful, DeSantis is attacking the very man who saved his career."
Although he has not announced his intention to run for president in 2024, and challenge Trump in the GOP primary, DeSantis is the former president's closest rival in the polls, with Trump ahead with 50.5% to DeSantis' 25.2%, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley at only 4.2%, the FiveThirtyEight political polling website reports.
"I'm not a candidate, so we'll see if and when that changes." USA Today reported DeSantis saying Monday in Japan when asked about the 2024 race and the back and forth with Trump.
Currently the GOP 2024 field has Trump, Haley, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy officially running for the nomination.
The ad comes as Democrat President Joe Biden formally announced his run for reelection on Tuesday.
"I said we are in a battle for the soul of America, and we still are," The Associated Press cited Biden saying in a video launching his campaign Tuesday. "The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer."
The Democratic primary field now includes Biden, author Marianne Williamson, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There's nothing more important. Nothing more sacred," Biden said in the launch video. "Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take those bedrock freedoms away."