Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis' will air his Trump-centered campaign ad for Congress, his first of the cycle, during the Army vs. Navy football game on Saturday.
Both President-elect Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis will be at the 3 p.m. game in Maryland while Patronis' 30-second ad airs. Called "Yes sir", Patronis uses the ad to better tie himself to the former and future president in the crowded Republican field, hoping to set himself further apart from the nine other conservatives in the Congressional District 1 race.
"Who gets shot, stands back up, and says 'fight, fight, fight'? There's only one Donald Trump," the ad begins, laying Patronis' voice over footage of the first assassination attempt on Trump in July. He continues to play the Trump chord, noting that when Trump urged him on social media to run for Matt Gaetz's vacant seat to "fight" for Trump, "My answer was 'Yes, sir.'"
"It's an honor of a lifetime to be endorsed by President Trump," Patronis continued. "I'm Jimmy Patronis. President Trump can count on me, and so can you."
First reported by Politico in the morning Florida Playbook, Patronis' ad space cost roughly $2,000 for the highly anticipated annual Army versus Navy football game, whose ticket prices surged to a record high of $657, according to ticketing technology company Victory Live.
According to the Thursday morning report, the game is poised to make history as the "highest-demand matchup" in the rival military academies' history. Though it's unclear if that's due to the political bigwigs stopping by, the game being held in the wealthier D.C. market area, or because both Army and Navy have winning records ahead of their matchup for the first time since 2017, or some combination of all three, the financials reflect just how anticipated it is.
And now with a pro-Trump candidate featuring his pro-Trump ad, it adds to the game's political suspense.
Patronis will face off against nine other Republicans for the party nomination on Jan. 28, including state House Rep. Joel Rudman and Aaron Dimmock, who unsuccessfully challenged Gaetz in the Republican primary in August. The Republican winner will take on the sole Democrat in the race, Gay Valimont, who lost to Gaetz by 32 points in the November general election.
The blood-red district is roughly 55% Republican and just 21% Democrat, meaning the Republican nominee is highly likely to win the congressional seat in the Apr. 1 special general election.
