Casey DeSantis, wife of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, previewed his re-election campaign’s latest ad on Twitter on Tuesday. The ad is of Floridians saying thank you to the governor for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Soon you will start seeing this statewide….

Governor @RonDeSantisFL delivers results for the people of Florida.

From parents to small business owners, waitresses to nurses, sheriffs to teachers…

Floridians are grateful for the Governor’s leadership. pic.twitter.com/HxgovXgIPc

— Casey DeSantis (@CaseyDeSantis) September 6, 2022

It’s a good ad. The way that DeSantis led Florida through the pandemic has to be the top reason why Florida voters will re-elect him in November. For the longest time, he was a lone voice saying no to all the mandated lockdowns from the federal government and pushing back as an uncomfortable authoritarianism emerged from elected officials. The pressure and criticism he received from Democrats who immediately politicized the pandemic while Trump was still in office was a daily story.

Even in my own state of Texas, businesses shut down and people were locked down in their homes when the pandemic first began. Schools closed, churches closed their doors, and people lost their jobs. Service industry workers were hardest hit. The memory of the panic felt by many of us due to the uncertainty of everything is still fresh. Calling attention to his steadfast, often downright stubborn, insistence that people make their own decisions is smart.

Voter registration among Republicans is way up. By March, registered Republican voters outnumbered Democrats by over 100K for the first time ever in Florida’s history. It’s all about freedom.

“There’s no beating around the fact this historic gain is because of Governor Ron DeSantis,” Florida Republican Party executive director Helen Aguirre Ferré said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Florida voters are appreciative of the palpable sense of freedom he has created in our state.”

“Unemployment is lower than the national average, our schools are open, there are no lockdowns, and there are no masks. Voters recognize the governor is a champion for families and businesses alike,” Aguirre Ferré continued. “Our voter registration numbers are impressive, but a 363,000 net change? That is unprecedented.”

A senior adviser to DeSantis’ re-election campaign told Fox News Digital that registered Republicans in Florida have increased by 363,000 since 2018, when DeSantis took power in the state.

DeSantis insisted that people knew what was best for themselves and their families. He supported COVID-19 vaccines but did not issue vaccine mandates. As a matter of fact, he issued fines against businesses that did issue vaccination requirements as a condition of employment. In June he said that the Special Olympics would be fined if they didn’t drop their mandate that all athletes had to be vaccinated to participate.

The Special Olympics bowed to pressure from Florida officials and will scrap vaccination requirements for athletes at its event this weekend after the state threatened the games’ governing body with $27.5 million in fines, according to a report.

The event, which is being held in Orlando, is expected to attract more than 5,500 athletes from around the country — all of whom were initially required to have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

But the organizers of the Special Olympics USA Games dropped its mandate after Florida threatened to impose penalties, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

“There needs to be a choice in this regard,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a promotional event in Orlando on Friday.

“Let them compete. We want everyone to be able to compete.”

DeSantis banned vaccine passports in 2021. He ordered the state to issue $5,000 fines to businesses, schools and government agencies that require people to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination.

The new ad also brought back memories of other conservative officials who participated in issuing lockdown orders. Even President Trump gave the ok to lockdowns in the early days of the pandemic. One conservative voice reminded people that mistakes were made and they should be acknowledged after seeing the tweet posted by Casey DeSantis.

Fox News host Ben Domenech blasted supporters of Donald Trump for not admitting the former president “totally botched” the Covid-19 pandemic.

Domenech first retweeted a campaign ad from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who earned fans on the right and criticism from the left for keeping his state open throughout the pandemic.

The ad featured Floridians thanking DeSantis for keeping Florida running while other states, such as New York, had more severe restrictions during the pandemic.

“This message would curbstomp the other Florida man if taken nationwide, in part because he failed to do so much of the same,” Domenech tweeted on Tuesday, referring to Trump.

He added: “The total inability of Trump suckers to acknowledge that he totally botched the pandemic is still their weirdest aspect. It’s obvious, it’s undeniable, just admit it.”

The total inability of Trump suckers to acknowledge that he totally botched the pandemic is still their weirdest aspect. It's obvious, it's undeniable, just admit it.

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) September 6, 2022

That response is aggressive and quite strident against loyal Trump supporters, but that’s today’s political atmosphere, isn’t it? I don’t know that words like “suckers” and “curbstomp” add to criticism other than raise the temperature of a debate.

The presidential primary season begins November 9, the day after the midterm elections. As it looks now, Trump will run for a second term. Ron DeSantis is his only real competition if he chooses to run for the GOP nomination himself. There are many Republican voters who look at DeSantis as a viable alternative Trump. Trump still has a strong following, to be sure, but as time passes, the benefit of a younger candidate appeals to a lot of voters. Trump is more energetic and mentally fit than Biden but the fact remains that Trump will be 78 years old in 2024. Do we want to continue on with presidents who are in their 70s, on into their 80s in office?

DeSantis is up over his Democrat opponent, Charlie Crist. Crist was governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 when he was a Republican. Republican voters tired of him so he switched parties to continue his political career. The race is a little closer than I’d like to see right now – latest polls have DeSantis up by 3 to 5 points – so we’ll see how it shakes out now that people are starting to focus on the midterm elections, as happens after Labor Day. DeSantis should win with a solid victory in November.