Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s (R-AR) new campaign advertisement has been the subject of backlash on the Right after she released a new ad portraying an unemployed white man as a welfare recipient.
Conservatives erupted at the new ad, released Monday, which touted Huckabee Sanders’s support for welfare work requirements.
The video features a young, white man named Brad, sitting lazily in a dark room playing video games and overindulging on snacks.
“Brad has turned relaxing into a full-time profession,” the governor says in the spot.
“But you, you actually work hard. You pay taxes to cover welfare for guys like Brad, who just choose not to work,” Huckabee Sanders continues, addressing the viewers. “That’s why I launched a welfare-to-work requirement.”
The portrayal of Brad was met with swift condemnation on social media by many conservative voices, who noted that white men are among the Republican Party’s most loyal voters.
“This is a massive own goal, @SarahHuckabee, and you should fire the consultants who made this ad,” Senior Counsel Internet Accountability Project Will Chamberlain wrote on X. “Do not portray your core voting bloc as losers, period.”
“Years ago, Democrats abandoned young white men and turned them into enemies for political purposes,” wrote Jake Bequette, a former NFL player and 2022 Senate candidate in Arkansas. “It was only a matter of time until Republicans explicitly did the same. That time is now. The crown is in the gutter for anyone who unapologetically fights for young white men.”
The Washington Examiner contacted Huckabee Sanders’s office for comment.
In 2024, Trump won white men 60%–38%, according to CNN exit polling. He also made gains with young men, winning the demographic 53%–45%, according to the survey.
Several accounts took to the comments to make racist diatribes against people on welfare and Huckabee Sanders for running the ad.
Democrats, meanwhile, took note of the right-wing backlash, calling it the “first honest TV ad” for Republicans in decades.
“Hilarious: Huck puts out the first honest TV ad by a republican in 75 years and the White Power GOP Party is big mad that the welfare leech shown is a white guy named Brad,” Democratic commentator Keith Olbermann wrote on X.
Other Democrats slammed the Republicans’ reaction to the ad and called the party racist and antisemitic.
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“Republicans in the comments are furious that Sarah Huckabee Sanders dared to depict a white man on welfare and are blaming ‘jews,’” progressive media company MeidasTouch wrote on X, responding to anonymous social media accounts, some of which said the GOP is “run by” Jews.
Huckabee Sanders responded to the criticism Monday afternoon, posting to social media that critics will “say I should have used cookies instead of cheese balls. If you are able-bodied you should not collect welfare simply because you choose not to work. Period.”