Charlie Christ, the Democratic candidate for governor of Florida, has shown the compassion and empathy he claims Gov. Ron DeSantis lacks in picking a representative of the Southeast’s largest teachers’ union as his running mate. He said he found a partner who embodies it.
Christo nominated Kara Hernandez Matz, president of Dade’s United Teachers Association, as lieutenant governor, and named a former middle school special education science teacher unknown to the majority of Florida voters as a fanatical figure. cast as A parent and advocate ready to rule by his side despite his lack of experience in elected office.
Hernández Mats has a “good heart,” Christo said in the first short interview he made the decision. “It always drives me more than anything else.”
Hernández Matz, the daughter of Honduran immigrants, taught for 10 years in Hialeah, a predominantly Cuban-American, working-class, predominantly Republican northwest of Miami. In 2010, she was named Florida’s Teacher of the Year. Her mother was a secretary, she said, and her father was a farm worker cutting sugar cane and harvesting tomatoes until he got a union job as a carpenter.
In a separate interview, his first since becoming Christo’s running mate, Hernández Matz said his life “embodies the American Dream.”
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Christo said he will continue to highlight how the state has become unruly under DeSantis and how governors have restricted people’s rights.
But in choosing the teachers’ union leader, Christo has ensured, for better or worse, that the gubernatorial election remains focused on education issues. Post-coronavirus pandemic strength.
DeSantis, who has gained national support for opposing public health experts and reopening Florida businesses and schools earlier than any other state, has put “parental rights” at the heart of his message. rice field. He has waged a cultural battle against the teachings of gender identity and racism in schools, and he campaigned for his 30 school board candidates. , almost all of which either won the primary or ran to the runoff vote on Tuesday. His two of the winners were Miami-Dade County.
Florida Republicans were quick to criticize Christo’s nomination, saying she “slapped her parents in Florida yet again” before formally nominating Hernandez Matz’s name before the election.
“It confirms how out of touch Christo has been with his family in Florida,” the party said in a statement Friday.
Christo dismissed the idea that voters would agree with the criticism that sharing tickets with the head of the teachers’ union would somehow turn him against parents.
“I think parent involvement is very important and teachers should be respected for their expertise,” he said. “They are not mutually exclusive.”
Democrats argued that Hernandez Mats could empathize with voters as a working mother who understands the challenges in the classroom. And speaking Spanish, she can reach the party’s hard-won Hispanic voters.
Christian Ulbert, a Nicaraguan-American and Democratic political consultant in Miami, said, “It’s clear that Hispanic voters are critically important to the Democrats building a winning coalition.” The way is if there are people in the community who fight back.”
In an interview, the energetic Hernandez Mats appeared eager to play the vice-presidential candidate’s frequent role of attacking opposition candidates.
“The state is taking away our liberties,” she said. “Governor DeSantis does not want women to choose or be autonomous in their own bodies and health care. They take away one freedom from her and take away many more.”
“Just a few months ago, people were saying, ‘Teachers are amazing!'” she added, recalling how teachers were praised for teaching online early in the pandemic. We have governors attacking teachers and public education.For what?This is what dictators do.”