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Majority Savers: Let's Support Annette Taddeo for Florida-27! [1]

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Date: 2022-10-09

Candidate Background

Annette Taddeo has the right profile to make this a race, even with southern Florida shifting to the right. The question is, will she be able to persuade enough voters with that she is on their side?

Taddeo was born in war-torn Colombia, and she like many had to flee the nation when Marxist rebels took her father hostage. Luckily, her entire family was able to make it to the United States and settle in Huntsville, Alabama.

Taddeo worked as a waitress to supplement the family income. After Hurricane Andrew, she moved with her parents in southern Florida to help rebuild their lives. She also founded a small business that specializes in language translation called LanguageSpeak.

Taddeo starting running for office in 2008, and finally won a State Senate seat in southern Florida in 2017. She ran for a full term in 2018 and narrowly won that election as well. She is giving up her seat in order to challenge Salazar for the 27th district.

Signature Issues

With this section, I try to find what is unique about each candidate and how they fit their district with the nuances. I can say that Taddeo is possibly one of the best fits for this district possible. Even so, she has to watch out for the dreaded ‘socialist’ label that Spanish language misinformation tars our candidates with.

Health Care and Abortion: She deftly avoids mentioning programs that might be considered socialism, but she would likely support expansion of medical coverage to more people. She is also pro-choice, while her incumbent opponent voted against abortion protections.

Climate Change: Not only is Miami ground zero for climate change, the state of Florida also has an increasing red tide and salt water infiltration problem. Taddeo will go to Congress to tackle all of these issues, while Salazar has done nothing to deal with any of these issues.

Defending Democracy: Taddeo cleverly attacks the corrupt regimes that the expats fled from, and ties it to 1/6 by saying the democracy you came to is now at risk too. She would support the 1/6 Commission and also the John Lewis VRA in order to ensure fair and free elections.

Elections History

Recent Elections —

2020 President: TFG (R-inc) 49.8%, Joe Biden (D) 49.5%

2020 House: María Elvira Salazar (R) 51.4%, Donna Shalala (D-inc) 48.6%

2022 PVI: EVEN

2022 Race Rating: Leans Republican

This district is one of the three Hispanic majority districts in the Miami area of southern Florida. Since 2000, the area has continued to support three such districts, and most of the time, the GQP has controlled all three districts. This district was no exception, because a longtime incumbent held this district on lockdown since 1989.

That incumbent was Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and she was very formidable. She never had a close race in her entire tenure, and that includes years like 2006 and 2008. Annette Taddeo was her opponent in 2008, and our candidate got creamed just like everyone else. It took until Ros-Lehtinen retired for us to have a shot at the 27th district of Florida.

That year was in 2018, and it was a BAD year (from the GQP perspective) for her to leave. It was in the middle of the blue wave that washed away so many incumbents that year, and it washed ashore some driftwood. Former Rep. Donna Shalala was amongst the flotsam elected during the blue wave. In spite of her not even speaking Spanish, she won the 2018 election narrowly.

Her luck ran out in 2020, as news anchor María Elvira Salazar swept her away narrowly. Shalala lost a district Biden still won, just to point that out. After Salazar won, the Florida mapmakers contorted the lines to give her a district that TFG won, albeit very narrowly. Because Rubio is catnip for Cubans, I don’t expect this to be the year we win the district in spite of a solid candidate.

Will this be Miami in about 50 to 100 years from now?

Political Tour of the District

This district changed quite a bit after redistricting. Mapmakers craftily added more red areas to the district to weaken the bluer areas that had to remain locked in the district. I still think this district will be won back at some point this decade, but that 2022 is not the right year.

Here’s where this race will be won in the 27th district.

Richmond Heights to West Perrine: This area remained blue even as the rest of the district shifted hard to the right. A larger percentage of Creole voters is responsible for this happening, and Taddeo needs to run up the score here to have a shot of winning.

This area remained blue even as the rest of the district shifted hard to the right. A larger percentage of Creole voters is responsible for this happening, and Taddeo needs to run up the score here to have a shot of winning. Eastern Miami: This area seems to be one of the swing areas of the district, with light blue and light pink precincts present. Taddeo would have to win this part of the district decisively if he is to have a chance at competing.

Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.

Coral Gables to Cutler Bay: The Florida shoreline is another swing area in the district, and Taddeo needs to win these towns more decisively if she is to have a chance of winning. Clinton swept these towns, and Biden held them to about 50-50.

The Florida shoreline is another swing area in the district, and Taddeo needs to win these towns more decisively if she is to have a chance of winning. Clinton swept these towns, and Biden held them to about 50-50. West Miami and Western Suburbs: Here is where the Cuban and right leaning Hispanic voters reside, and it is where Salazar is counting upon her base of support to win again. Taddeo needs to cut into the margins here — she cannot afford to be blown out 2:1 like Biden was.

Activism — Help How You Can!

Unlike our candidate yesterday, I know exactly where Annette Taddeo stands in the fundraising race. She raised $455k for the second quarter, and did so in an abbreviated time period as she entered the race late. She has likely raised even more since then to add to her $427k cash on hand. She will still need funds from you and me to make this race more competitive.

Rep. Salazar is a fundraising powerhouse, which is another reason why I am bearish on this race. Salazar raised $825k during the second quarter, which given her connections to the Spanish media conglomerates is an excellent haul. She also has a superior $1.41 MILLION cash on hand, which will come in handy if the race becomes more competitive.

DONATE TO ANNETTE TADDEO HERE

It is getting very close to crunch time. That’s when the volunteers need to appear to seal the deal and make this district highly competitive. Creole speaking and Spanish speaking volunteers are especially important for this very diverse district. Door knocking and voter persuasion now that ballots are starting to head to voters becomes even more critical.

VOLUNTEER FOR HER CAMPAIGN HERE

I am assuming that Annette Taddeo has Spanish social media covered as well as English social media, because she is a seasoned Miami political operative. Feel free to add links to any Spanish social media accounts she has. I am sticking with English social media for now.

She has built up quite a following over the years as a politician. She has 60k followers on Twitter, which is an impressive amount for a challenger. She also has Facebook and Instagram accounts like most politicians do. In the message below, she is fighting for the Venezuelan vote, a critical constituency she needs to win back in the fall.

x Then why don’t you “value” the freedom of a plane full of Venezuelans fleeing socialism? https://t.co/XsUwNXI7gt — Annette Taddeo (She/Her/Ella) (@Annette_Taddeo) October 2, 2022

Even though State Sen. Annette Taddeo has fought in the trenches in the Miami area for decades and knows exactly what is needed to win a campaign here, I think even she will come up short. It is tough knowing that this area could be fertile ground for the Democratic Party, only to watch it accelerate to the right in 2020. Majority Savers hopes Taddeo can win back some of these voters with her campaign.

How to find all Majority Savers’ diaries:

To find all past and future diaries of the Majority Savers group, go to their Diaries List. (We suggest that you Bookmark that page.) The home page of the Majority Savers group is here.

Annette Taddeo for Florida-27!

Donate | Volunteer | Campaign | FaceBook | Twitter | Instagram

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