Iowa — It was an inauspicious start for Ron DeSantis in Iowa on Friday.

Chanting “Ron DeFascist” and “pudding fingers” on a megaphone while ringing cowbells, two protesters effectively cut short the Florida governor’s first campaign stop of the day at a large roadside rock painted for war veterans.

It was the second notable disruption of a Republican presidential candidate by the left in Iowa this week, after a Democrat on Thursday asked Mike Pence at the Iowa State Fair, “Why did you commit treason on Jan. 6?”

At the DeSantis event, Kara Ryan of Des Moines said she and her aunt, Heather Ryan, were there on behalf of a political action committee called “removed Get Stuff Done,” that supports abortion rights.

A man there to support DeSantis, wearing a hat given out by his aligned super PAC, Never Back Down, at one point tried to stop the noise by attempting unsuccessfully to knock the megaphone out of Heather Ryan’s hands.

DeSantis, joined by his wife Casey, still tried to give remarks.

“People like that,” he said, referring to the two protesters drowning him out, “are what’s holding this country back.”

The handful of veterans gathered erupted in applause. But the event was hurried, DeSantis’ meeting with the veterans brief.

DeSantis is set to appear at events in several other Iowa towns Friday as part of his 99-county tour, before attending the Iowa state fair on Saturday.