Jim Rosica
Insiders promised that Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, one of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senator, would shake things up a bit in his Sunshine Summit speech.
He delivered with one memorable shock line:
“I will bust my ass for Florida every day and be part of the solutions and not part of the problems,” he told the crowd to applause.
Lopez-Cantera was the final Senate candidate to speak at the Sunshine Summit in Orlando on Friday.
The state’s second in command, seeking to replace Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate, said he’s the only man who “can stand up to the broken system” in Washington, D.C.
Earlier, a woman chanted “C-L-C!” as he took the stage. The candidate beamed.
“Wow,” he said. “That’s the first time that’s ever happened.”
He told party faithful he’d stand up for their values, not the Washington establishment’s.
“I am a Florida Republican, not a Washington, D.C., Republican,” he said. “We cut our debt, Washington piles it on … We balance our budget every year; they refuse.”
In brief remarks, Lopez-Cantera breezily pivoted from domestic concerns, including jobs and the economy, to foreign policy and national security.
He also bashed the Democratic opposition, which “can’t get a good idea signed into law.”
“Shouldn’t we, as Republicans, be better and have a higher standard?” said Lopez-Cantera, son of Cuban immigrants.
Afterward, the same woman cheered him off the stage with the “C-L-C” chant.
