EXCLUSIVE: Riley Gaines expressed her support for Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s re-election bid on Wednesday and appeared in a new campaign ad touting the lawmaker’s stance on women’s sports.

Gaines has been the leader in the movement to protect women’s sports since she competed against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the NCAA Championships in 2022. The former Kentucky Wildcats swimming star, who hosts OutKick’s “Gaines for Girls” podcast, has been to Capitol Hill and college campuses to spread her message.

“In Tennessee, we know the difference between a man and a woman, and we know that men do not belong in women’s sports,” Gaines said in a news release obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“As a fearless advocate for female athletes, Senator Blackburn will continue to ensure they are recognized for their accomplishments and protected from the left’s woke identity crisis. I’m on Team Marsha because future generations of girls depend on us to preserve the equality that generations before us fought so hard to achieve.”

In the advertisement, first seen by Fox News Digital, Gaines supports Blackburn in the fight to protect women’s spaces against “woke politics.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin/File)

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“I trained my entire life to be the best,” Gaines says in the clip. “I was one of the fastest women in the entire country. But woke politics made me swim against a man, sharing the pool and the locker room. That’s not just dangerous; it’s degrading. 

“Thank God for Marsha Blackburn. No one fights harder to protect us. Marsha Blackburn will always stand for strong women because she’s one of us.”

Gaines told Fox News Digital in a separate statement that Blackburn’s political ferocity made her proud to live in Tennessee.

“Senator Blackburn has been a fierce defender of common sense, traditional values, and women,” Gaines said. “Few are as morally sound and unapologetic as she is. She makes me proud to be a Tennessean.”

Blackburn is so far running against Tres Wittum in the Republican primary, which takes place on Aug 1.

Democrat primary candidates include Marquita Bradshaw, Lola Brown, Gloria Johnson and Civil Miller-Watkins.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images/File)

Blackburn ran for Bob Corker’s seat in 2018 and defeated Phil Bresden, receiving 54.7% of the vote.

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Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost said on Tuesday that calling Vice President Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, a “DEI hire” was like using a “racial slur.”

“DEI” is an acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion. 

“This is a right-wing campaign that’s going to be racist [and] misogynist against the vice president. But we‘re going to stand on the issues and what really matters is the fact that she is qualified,” Frost told anchor Jim Acosta on “CNN Newsroom.”

“They want to call her a DEI president – a DEI candidate. She has more experience than Trump and J.S. Vance combined times a million, right? She worked at the state level. She was the attorney general,” he added.

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Frost added that any “DEI” comments about Harris are “racist dog whistles.”

“She’s Vice President of the United States. She was a senator representing one of the largest states in the entire country. And so these are just racist dog whistles whenever you hear DEI, I want you to think about the ‘N word, and we need to think about racial slurs. That‘s what they actually mean,” Frost said.

Frost’s comments came after Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett on Monday called Harris a “DEI hire” in an interview with CNN. Rep. Burchett suggested that Harris was selected as vice president solely because she was a Black woman.

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“One hundred percent she is a DEI hire,” Burchett told CNN’s Manu Raju. He continued, “Her record is abysmal at best.”

Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green also slammed Harris for being chosen as Biden’s running mate solely due to her racial identity. 

“She wasn’t chosen because she was truly highly ranked amongst Democratic voters throughout the country. She was chosen for a reason. And it seems to be that her, unfortunately, her gender and maybe her skin color was part of that,” Greene told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Maxwell Frost slammed Republicans for calling Vice President Harris a “DEI hire.” (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

While some are calling Harris a “DEI hire,” other GOP officials believe it is best for Republican nominee and former President Trump to campaign against Harris in other ways, such as her lackluster 2020 Democratic primary campaign and her crime record in California.

Less than 36 hours after President Biden ended his re-election campaign and endorsed Harris to succeed him as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, Harris announced that she’d locked up the nomination.

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“I am proud to have earned the support needed to become our party’s nominee,” the vice president wrote in a social media post just after midnight early Tuesday morning.

Harris showcased that she’d won commitments of backing from a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Aug. 19 in Chicago.

Harris’ clinching of the nomination will likely become official within the next two weeks, as the Democratic National Committee moves forward with a virtual presidential nomination roll call of the delegates. 

Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris (Getty Images)

Rep. Frost’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life for evermore” (Psalm 133:1-3). 

These verses from the book of Psalms comprise the entirety of Psalm 133 – and their message of unity and hope are particularly important in today’s trying times, a Catholic priest told Fox News Digital this week.

“Every weekend throughout the United States at different houses of worship, Jewish and Christian communities of various traditions turn to the Book of Psalms as a source of prayer,” Rev. Jeffrey Kirby said. 

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Kirby is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Indian Land, South Carolina. He hosts the morning devotional “Morning Offering with Father Kirby.” 

Psalms, which are sometimes sung by a cantor or chorus, “disclose the inner movements of the human heart as we search to encounter God,” he said, and “are truly a rare collection of snapshots of the human psyche and its desire to see and understand God.” 

“The 150 psalms are filled with cries of lament and songs of praise. They express every possible emotion of the human soul,” Kirby said.

They are “spontaneous, fluid and give a profound expression to the beauty and chaos of the human heart,” he said. 

Psalm 133 is especially poignant in light of recent events. 

“In our own times, marked as they are by polarization and division, and recently heightened by the shocking attempted assassination of a former president and leading political candidate, we can follow the lead of countless generations before us and turn to the Book of Psalms,” Kirby said. 

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Psalm 133, he said, “can raise up our hearts and give us guidance and encouragement.” 

Said Kirby, “The psalm was one of the Psalms of Ascent, since it was sung by people as they neared Jerusalem for one of the major feasts. The strength of its call for unity and the conviction of its hope for peace among people, however, jumps out and shakes believers of every generation.” 

“In our own times, marked as they are by polarization and division, and recently heightened by the shocking attempted assassination of a former president and leading political candidate,” said a South Carolina priest, “we can follow the lead of countless generations before us and turn to the Book of Psalms.” (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“In typical fashion with the psalms,” Kirby said, “which read the human heart and give it words, Psalm 133 expresses the deepest sentiments of many Americans today.” 

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For context, Kirby said, “the use of oil in ancient Israel was a sign of favor and blessing. It was used to designate God’s presence and purpose.”

It is “biblically rich” that the concept of unity was compared to this kind of oil upon the robe of Aaron, “the spiritual father of the temple priests in the Old Testament,” he said. 

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“The psalmist is telling us that unity is a divine gift, attached to the adoration of God and the prayers of humanity.”

“As we pray this psalm, we feel it resonate within our own souls and the soul of our nation.”

Additionally, Mount Hermon had special significance in biblical times that may not be known to the modern reader, Kirby said. 

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Mount Hermon “is the largest and most visible mountain range in the Holy Land,” he said.

Psalm 133 shares a message of unity, said a Catholic priest in South Carolina. (iStock)

“Due to its height, the dew of Hermon was seen as symbolically falling upon the entire land. Hermon was a sign of God’s blessings and the assurance of his gift of life.” 

The psalmist likens unity to “the dew of Hermon,” Kirby noted. 

“Unity is also shown to be a shining display of God’s blessing upon us.”

“As the mountain range provided defense, security and fresh springs to God’s people, so unity gives protection, stability and refreshment to society,” he said. 

Just as Mount Hermon was a sign of the blessings of God, “unity is also shown to be a shining display of God’s blessing upon us,” he said.

“As we pray this psalm, we feel it resonate within our own souls and the soul of our nation,” Kirby said.

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“As Americans, our hearts yearn and pine as we turn and ask God today for ‘the precious oil’ of unity and for the cherished peace that comes with ‘the dew of Hermon.’”