Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this week added “Fauci Can Pound Sand” flip-flops to his campaign website store. The sandals are part of a growing trend of Republican candidates taking aim at Dr. Anthony Fauci in campaign ads and fundraising as the November midterm elections approach.
DeSantis recently released a similar television ad targeting the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, saying he flip-flopped on COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
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Criticism of Fauci has also been a staple of DeSantis’s recent stump speeches, and he has previously sold “Don’t Fauci My Florida” merchandise.
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Fauci, previously a top COVID-19 adviser to former President Donald Trump, saw his popularity with Republicans plummet as the two diverged on mitigation efforts such as masking. The relationship between the two became increasingly hostile, with Trump openly musing about firing Fauci after the election — though as a career civil servant, he would have been hard to get rid of and the process could have taken years. Fauci stayed on in President Joe Biden’s administration as a top adviser on combating COVID-19.
According to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll, 62% of Republicans said Fauci was doing a “poor” job handling the pandemic, while just 6% of those voters said Fauci was doing an “excellent” job — making him a safe target for Republican candidates to feature in ads and fundraising taking aim at mitigation efforts increasing in unpopularity with their base.
Multiple Republican candidates for governor, the Senate, and House have named Fauci in their ads or fundraising, while others have used his image without naming him.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy mentioned Fauci in a January fundraising text, and the chamber’s No. 3 Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik sent a January fundraising email with a poll asking if Fauci should be fired.
DeSantis isn’t the only gubernatorial candidate to hit Fauci in fundraising, as Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Jim Pillen has also joined in.
“Fauci? Don’t get me started,” Pillen said in the ad.
Senate candidates in states such as Alabama and Pennsylvania have also done so, including celebrity physician Mehmet Oz.
For his recent ad campaign in a crowded Republican primary, Ohio Senate candidate Mike Gibbons enlisted Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has had a series of confrontational exchanges with Fauci in Senate Health Committee hearings.
“I’ve stood strong against the mandates of Dr. Fauci, but I need help. That’s why I’m endorsing Mike Gibbons for Senate,” Paul said in the ad. “I know Mike Gibbons will join me in demanding that Fauci is immediately fired and removed from office.”
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In a tense exchange between Fauci and Paul at a Senate hearing last month, Fauci said Paul’s false accusations about him have led to death threats and harassment toward him and his family.
