Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s (R) campaign showcased an ad ahead of the third Republican primary debate claiming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “lied” about his position on fracking.
The ad highlighted a key exchange between Haley and DeSantis from the second GOP primary debate.
“What you don’t need is a president who is against energy independence. Ron DeSantis is against fracking. He’s against drilling. He’s been against… You did it,” Haley said at the time.
“He always talks about what happens on day one. You better watch out because what happens on day two is when you’re in trouble; day two in Florida, you banned fracking, you banned offshore drilling,” she continued.
“That is not true,” DeSantis said, denying the claims by saying Florida voters chose a constitutional amendment that banned offshore drilling.
“You banned it before they voted,” Haley responded.
DeSantis insisted Haley was “totally wrong.”
“On shore, we do it in Florida. We don’t have as much as maybe West Texas, but we do it. But that was a constitution amendment, so that’s just wrong, and let’s just get real here,” he said.
However, it is true that DeSantis openly supported banning fracking when he was running for governor. ABC News noted that “after DeSantis’ election victory, the website for the then-governor-elect included a pledge to ‘work to ban fracking in the state of Florida,’ according to a Nov. 25, 2018, screenshot of the website.”
Haley’s ad highlights some DeSantis quotes, showing him openly opposing offshore drilling — including his opposition to former President Donald Trump.
Some of the DeSantis quotes displayed in the ad include:
“I’m opposed to offshore drilling here in Florida.”
“When [the] president wanted to do offshore drilling, I opposed him on it.”
“If you did offshore drilling, you may create some jobs in that industry, but I think you’d probably cost more jobs overall.”
“We’re gonna be seeking $2.5 billion for water resource that represents a billion dollars more than the previous four years.”
“We don’t need to do offshore drilling here.”
“We have reached a deal to purchase 20,000 acres of land that is currently slated for oil production, so we’ll permanently save the land from oil production.”
WATCH:
jyXgAutaagUThe ad comes as Haley finds herself tied with DeSantis for second place in Iowa and leading him in her home state of South Carolina.
Both Haley and DeSantis will participate in the third presidential primary debate in Miami on Wednesday. Three others — anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — will join them.
