(Bloomberg) -- Two new super PAC ads in the 2024 Republican presidential primary portray dueling images of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: a heroic fighter or a guy who eats pudding with his fingers as he schemes to cut Social Security.

Never Back Down, a pro-DeSantis super PAC, introduced its first national ad, a minute-long biography that positions the governor as a champion for parental rights “pushing back against the woke left,” over stock footage of the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

“If you’re coming after the rights of parents, I’m standing in your way,” DeSantis says in the ad, a clip taken from a 2021 speech in which he defended an executive order barring local governments and school districts from mandating that students wear masks in school to stem the spread of Covid-19.

Never Back Down is spending at least a half million dollars on ads in Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada next week, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm. The ad buy marks its first significant foray into early battleground states, launching the GOP presidential primary into a new, more visible phase.

Pudding Eater

An ad from Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump in this third White House bid, mocks DeSantis over anonymously sourced reports that he once ate pudding with his fingers. 

“Ron DeSantis loves sticking his fingers where they don’t belong. And we’re not just talking about pudding,” the ad’s narrator says. “DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements, like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, even raising our retirement age.”

As a member of the US House in 2013, DeSantis voted for a symbolic resolution that would have raised the age to qualify for Medicare and Social Security to 70. More recently, he has said “we’re not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans.”

The super PAC has spent about $13,000 to air the ad in the D.C. market, according to AdImpact.

Although DeSantis has not announced he is running for president, he remains the top challenger to Trump, whose lead in polls of GOP primary voters has widened in recent weeks. Trump has repeatedly mocked DeSantis, who has mostly avoided hitting back.

--With assistance from Gregory Korte.

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