MIAMI — Per week after leaving the governor’s race to run for Congress, Miami state Sen. Annette Taddeo is endorsing U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist because the Democratic gubernatorial candidate to go up in opposition to Gov. Ron DeSantis in November.
“It should not be a surprise,” mentioned Taddeo on her endorsement. “I really believe that us as Democrats, we need to come together.”
Before successful her Senate seat in a particular election in 2016, she was Crist’s operating mate in his failed bid for governor in 2014 in opposition to Rick Scott, who was then the Republican incumbent.
Taddeo acquired Crist’s backing final week shortly after her announcement that she was operating in Florida’s Congressional District 27, incumbent U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar’s new district. Crist, who’s from St. Petersburg, served one time period as governor when he was in the Republican Party, from 2007-2011.
Taddeo’s endorsement of Crist so quickly after her announcement she was leaving the race additionally narrows the sphere for Democrats vying to unseat DeSantis, and ramps up the Crist marketing campaign’s momentum in opposition to his high rival Nikki Fried, Florida’s agriculture commissioner.
“I don’t think it’s so much about the issues, I think we all agree on the issues. I think it’s about who we can trust to do this best,” Taddeo advised the Herald. “It’s not an easy race, we all know that. It’s going to take everything we’ve got.”
Crist mentioned that Taddeo “obviously would’ve been a great governor” and “in the future she could be,” however he was excited to obtain her endorsement. Taddeo is Colombian-American, fluent in Spanish, and he or she seems typically in native Spanish-language media in Miami-Dade County. As Democrats wrestle to promote their agenda to Hispanic voters in South Florida, Taddeo is prone to change into one among Crist’s Spanish-language surrogates.
“I don’t think they (Hispanic voters) are disillusioned, I think they’re misled,” Crist mentioned, including Taddeo is “a wonderful human being.”
“She’s a saint in my book,” he added.
Asked if he thought Taddeo’s endorsement was an try to sign to others in the Democratic main discipline to drop their bids, Crist countered that his important focus was beating DeSantis, who Crist mentioned is “tearing Florida apart.”
“I don’t force anyone ever to do anything,” Crist mentioned. “I am a public servant who believes in actual freedoms.”
Florida’s main elections are on August 23. The basic election is on November 8.