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Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist has chosen the president of the Miami-Dade County academics union to be his working mate, putting schooling on the forefront of his marketing campaign as he seeks to defeat incumbent GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis in November.
United Academics of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats was introduced as Crist’s working mate on Saturday throughout a marketing campaign occasion held in Miami.
“This man’s the other of freedom,” Crist stated of Gov. DeSantis shortly after taking the stage to talk to supporters. “We’re for actual freedom. Freedom for all of you.”
“I am excited to introduce to you an exquisite particular person,” Crist stated. “Karla is an incredible particular person. She actually is.” Describing her as a “loving” and “compassionate” trainer throughout his introduction of Hernandez-Mats, Crist stated, “You recognize her, I like her, meet the subsequent lieutenant governor of Florida, Karla Hernandez.”
Charlie Crist, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Florida, speaks throughout a main evening occasion in Saint Petersburg, Florida, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022.
(Thomas Wheelock/Bloomberg through Getty Photos)
“Are you uninterested in the tradition wars and the extremists which can be dictating what we will not say and do,” Hernandez-Mats requested the group upon taking the stage. “Are you sick of politicians who act like authoritarians attempting to tear aside our democracy? … That is why we’re right here right this moment. To defeat Ron DeSantis and convey decency and respect again to the state of Florida.”
“I’m so honored to be becoming a member of this staff, the profitable ticket,” she added. “It is the chance of a lifetime to combat subsequent to Charlie as your subsequent lieutenant governor.”
Describing herself as a “proud union member,” Hernandez-Mats claimed, “It has been darkish, however we’re gonna carry the sunshine again” to Florida.
“The whole lot is on the poll this November,” she stated. “Should you care about freedoms and also you care about girls’s freedom to decide on and have autonomy over their physique, I would like you to vote. Should you care about defending folks’s freedom and ensuring they’ve entry to vote, I would like you to take a good friend and exit and vote.”
Hernandez-Mats joined the management group for United Academics of Dade in 2013 because the secretary-treasurer. Three years later, in 2016, she grew to become the group’s first Hispanic chief when she was elected as president.
Hernandez-Mats, a vocal critic of actions taken by DeSantis lately, pushed again on his try and re-open faculties within the Sunshine State amid the COVID-19 pandemic and insisted faculties shouldn’t be re-opened till “the security of our group is secured.”
Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., claimed he “goes to beat” DeSantis for the Florida governorship this November.
(Joe Raedle/Getty Photos)
CRIST SLAMS DESANTIS VOTERS AFTER WINNING FLORIDA GUBERNATORIAL NOMINATION: ‘I DON’T WANT YOUR VOTE’
“The notion that reopening our faculties is an choice as a result of ‘for those who’re youthful, it simply hasn’t had an impression’ shouldn’t be solely utterly contradictory to what we all know to be the information of this pandemic, it’s harmful for our communities at massive,” Hernandez-Mats stated in 2020 concerning DeSantis’ remarks, in keeping with NBC 6 South Florida.
In a tweet issued final November, she acknowledged that faculty closures impacted the tempo at which college students be taught, in comparison with earlier years. “Pacing guides are arbitrary, you’re the schooling skilled that is aware of what your college students want,” she wrote in response to a involved trainer. “Should you go too quick they could fall farther behind, get demoralized, & heighten their stress.”
Hernandez-Mats additionally drew criticism from residents in Florida final October when she shared a tweet evaluating dad and mom who attend faculty board conferences to distinguished, fictional serial killers, together with Freddy Krueger from the horror movie franchise “Nightmare on Elm Avenue” and Jason Voorhees from the basic Friday the 13th movies.
“For any of you following the varsity board conferences, you recognize that the craziness is actual. God be with us,” she wrote.
Hernandez-Mats has additionally confronted criticism for a 2016 tweet that claimed “many in Cuba” had been mourning and “most in Miami” had been rejoicing over the loss of life of Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator who embraced communism and the previous Soviet Union and whose financial insurance policies created unrest and havoc in Cuba.
“A political determine dies at 90. Most in Miami rejoice, many in Cuba mourn #FidelCastro,” she wrote.
Hernandez-Mats — the daughter of two Honduran immigrants who got here to America within the 1970s — has additionally been vital of what opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Homosexual” regulation, which prohibits classes on sexual orientation and gender id in Florida school rooms.
Earlier this week, Crist, a former Republican who has represented Florida’s 13th Congressional District as a Democrat within the Home since 2017, informed CNN that he would “completely” welcome President Biden to marketing campaign with him in Florida and insisted that Biden is the rationale “fuel costs are down.”
“Take a look at what he is — President Biden — carried out for our nation. He is been distinctive,” Crist stated. “Look what he is carried out for the world… what’s taking place in Ukraine, him bringing NATO collectively, new members to NATO – Finland, Sweden. It is outstanding. What different president may’ve carried out what he is carried out? He is been phenomenal. Gasoline costs are down. Inflation is trending down. Democracy is trending up.”
Earlier this month, Crist claimed DeSantis is the “most smug” governor he had ever seen and known as him a “wannabe dictator.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters at a marketing campaign cease on the Maintain Florida Free Tour on the Horsepower Ranch in Geneva.
(Paul Hennessy/SOPA Photos/LightRocket through Getty Photos)
“He’s essentially the most smug governor I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s surprising, it truly is. Sufficient is sufficient,” Crist stated, in keeping with The Guardian. “He’s a barbaric, wannabe dictator.”
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Crist, who defeated his main challenger Nikki Fried in Tuesday’s election and served as Florida’s governor from 2007 to 2011, is slated to face off in opposition to DeSantis within the state when voters head to the polls on Nov. eight for the overall election.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
