TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — With midterm elections less than a week out, the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (FRSCC) launched a pair of television ads taking aim at two Democrats: Florida Sen. Janet Cruz and Eunic Ortiz, a candidate for Senate District 18.
In an email blast distributing the ads, FRSCC mocked the Senate Democrats’ “Florida Freedom Tour” in the Tampa Bay area, calling it the “B.S. Express.”
“WHO IS JANET CRUZ?”
The 15-second ad taking on the incumbent, is titled “Who is Janet Cruz?” aims to expose “the liberal senator's pattern of bounced checks, cheating on her taxes and getting rich while in office.”
The ad alleges that the Cruz campaign participated in the suspicious dark money fund advertised as Hurricane Ian Response Fund. The fund did not appear in Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ “Check-A-Charity” online database that provides the financial information reported to the department from charitable organizations.
At the end of the ad, Cruz is seen with her arm around fellow Senator Loranne Ausley as the two, surrounded by a group of LGBTQ activists, proudly chant “Gay, gay, gay!”
Jay Collins is the Republican hoping to unseat Cruz in Senate District 14. Collins is a highly decorated Army Special Forces combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient with over two decades of service. The former Green Beret had to have one of his legs amputated due to injuries sustained overseas. Collins has been endorsed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
“NEW YORK MINUTE”
A 30-second ad entitled “New York Minute” goes after the “extreme policies” of Ortiz, a former New Yorker who called for far left policies such as defunding the police and dismantling prisons.
“Eunic Ortiz is a New York political operative who’s head-over-heels for nutty ideas, like taxpayer funded housing for illegal immigrants, taxpayer funded centers for so-called ‘safe drug use,’ even tax-payer funded sex-changes for minors,” the ad narrators states.
“Will Ortiz vote for these nutty ideas in Florida?” the narrator asks rhetorically before chuckling. “In a New York Minute.”
Rep. Nick DiCeglie is the Republican running against Ortiz in Senate District 18. DiCeglie serves as Chair of the Insurance and Banking Subcommittee and a member of the Commerce Committee, where he says he is “laser focused on establishing COVID liability protection that enables our small businesses and employees to get back to work.” He also serves on the Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, Local Administration and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee and the Ways and Means Committee.
Before entering the political realm, DiCeglie owned a small business in the waste management industry. Like Collins, DiCeglie has received an endorsement from the governor.
