As a former White House press secretary for President Donald Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is no stranger to getting flack from a hostile media.
But as an Arkansas governor seeking re-election to her second term, Sanders was getting heat on Monday from the conservative end of the spectrum.
And it was a welfare-to-work ad she produced that’s providing the fuel.
In the ad, the governor appears on screen mocking a figure she calls “Brad” — a young white man apparently making a career out of eating cheeseballs and chips while playing video games.
You pay taxes to cover welfare for people who just choose not to work. That’s why I launched a welfare-to-work requirement.
If you’re young, healthy, and get government assistance, you should work, go to school, or volunteer. pic.twitter.com/M83nxNMdry
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) September 28, 2026
The ad’s apparent premise — that young white men are the biggest users and abusers of welfare assistance — struck a nerve among conservatives.
This Republican ad calling out welfare leeches uses a young white male named “Brad” as the villain. Meanwhile, back in reality, women are significantly more likely to be on welfare than men. And black people are astronomically more likely to be on welfare than white people. So… https://t.co/hVOQsQDGHK
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 28, 2026
Our government has systematically discriminated against white men for decades now, and yet now has the audacity to dishonestly mock young white men as welfare queens. https://t.co/ihicdJmWYU
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) September 28, 2026
Conservative social media personality Jack Posobiec responded by asking the Grok artificial intelligence engine to provide data on Arkansas welfare participation. The answers he got showed it is definitely not white men who are leading the pack.
The engine provided information about one of the best-known welfare programs — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — formerly known as “food stamps.”
No. Black or African American households have the highest SNAP participation rate in Arkansas at 22%, versus 8% for White and 10% for Hispanic households (ACS 2020-24). Whites form the largest share of recipients due to population size, but rates are lower. White males do not…
— Grok (@grok) September 28, 2026
“Whites form the largest share of recipients due to population size, but rates are lower,” the AI noted. “White males do not lead; female-headed households and Black residents show higher involvement overall.”
Data from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, which bills itself as a nonpartisan group based in the state capital of Little Rock, bear that out.
While whites make up an overwhelming 75 percent of the state population and blacks are only 15 percent, according to the U.S. Census, ACHI noted that “the racial breakdown of SNAP participants in Arkansas was 54.0% White, 34.3% African American, 2.0% Hispanic (any race), 2.7% other (not Hispanic), and 6.9% missing/unknown.”
Other commenters noted that the ad was not just wrong on the information it presented, but misguided as a political outreach. It was likely to turn off exactly the voters Huckabee Sanders is looking to motivate.
And considering Huckabee Sanders spent much of Trump’s first term as the face of his White House — and the target of a hostile media — before she ran for office in her own right, it’s clear she’s no newcomer to politics.
Who advised Sarah this was a good idea?!
Some young white men may still live on their parents’ welfare, but very few live on government welfare. Those are two completely different issues.
Don’t make the young white male (a voting demo the GOP needs) the enemy here.
— Jenna Ellis (@realJennaEllis) September 28, 2026
“Don’t make the young white male (a voting demo the GOP needs) the enemy here,” wrote Jenna Ellis, a former Trump attorney and now a policy adviser for the American Family Association.
Others, like Sean Davis, co-founder of the conservative website The Federalist, saw the ad as hurting the very reform it was promoting.
Great policy. Terrible ad that is so dishonest and insulting that it will entirely overshadow the genuinely great policy.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) September 28, 2026
For her part, Huckabee Sanders appeared unmoved by the criticism. The critics, she wrote, were missing the point.
Some critics online don’t like my welfare work requirement ad. Next thing you know they’ll 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. WATCH-> https://t.co/W9BAjVRkSA
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) September 28, 2026
“Some critics online don’t like my welfare work requirement ad,” she wrote. “Next thing you know they’ll 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.”
Huckabee Sanders is being challenged by state Sen. Fredrick Love, the Democratic nominee for Arkansas governor in the Nov. 3 election.
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