Drew Wilson
Orange Park Republican Judson Sapp is hitting the airwaves in Florida’s 3rd Congressional District with a new ad hammering incumbent U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho for his lack of support for President Donald Trump’s priorities.
The 30-second spot, titled “New Leadership,” sees Sapp blast his fellow Republican by downplaying an analogy Yoho has employed in his own ads — that so-called “career politicians” are “like pigs feeding at the trough.” Such comparisons are relatively common for Yoho, who was a large-animal veterinarian before he unseated former Republican U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns in 2012.
Now, Sapp is throwing the same shade at Yoho that the Gainesville Republican threw at Stearns, but instead of coining his own folksy farmyard comparison he sticks to policy.
“My opponent talks a lot about pigs. I don’t know much about pigs, but I do know how to create jobs and fix infrastructure. I’m Judson Sapp, a conservative businessman just like Trump,” Sapp says in the ad.
“My opponent claims to support our president, yet he opposed building the wall and repealing Obamacare. I stand with President Trump. Build the wall, repeal Obamacare, support our veterans — Make American great again. It’s time for new leadership, because the pigs just keep getting bigger,” he concludes.
Sapp built his resume in Florida politics by working former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack III and former state House Speaker John Thrasher. After a stint in Hollywood, he came home to Clay County to work at the family business, railroad construction company W. J. Sapp & Son.
Through the end of June, Yoho held a strong lead in the money race with more than $608,000 raised and $431,000 in the bank compared to $231,000 in receipts and a $133,000 balance for Sapp.
CD 3 covers the whole of Alachua, Bradford, Clay, Putnam and Union counties as well as the northern half of Marion County. The major population centers of the district are Gainesville, Palatka, Orange Park and part of Ocala.
Democrats Dushyant Gosai, Yvonne Hinson and Tom Wells are also competing for the seat, though the district’s partisan lean — it’s rated “safe Republican” by Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball and Trump carried the seat by 16 points two years ago — all but ensures the winner of the Aug. 28 Republican primary will be heading (or returning) to Washington come January.
Sapp’s ad is below.
