A.G. Gancarski
Carlos Lopez-Cantera‘s path to the Republican nomination for Florida’s currently contested United States Senate involves grassroots engagement. And to that end, on Monday evening in Jacksonville, CLC held a “grassroots meet and greet” on the Southside.
The remarks, delivered off the cuff, were grassroots-centric from the outset, with Lopez-Cantera affirming that he’s a “Florida Republican, not a Washington DC Republican” and “that there is a difference.”
Contrasting the record of the Rick Scott administration, including progress on ports and infrastructure, a 44 year low crime rate and over one million new jobs, with DC, the contrast was clear to CLC: in Washington, DC, “you don’t see a lot of results.”
Lopez-Cantera emphasized that there are two types of DC Republicans: the type who “has no idea what it’s like in the real world” and the type that dishes out “red meat talking points.”
Lopez-Cantera emphasized his commitment to “be in Florida every month,” to “be present and listen.”
CLC’s line of attack on DC Republicans is an interesting way to distinguish himself in an increasingly crowded field. Another line of attack that he opened up: a criticism of the national debt, which he said is a “huge problem”, a “looming crisis,” and the “biggest challenge” America faces.
“We can’t continue spending more than we take in,” Lopez-Cantera said, before noting that before his “youngest daughter graduates high school,” money spent on “entitlements and interest” on the debt will be “more than we take in.”
Beyond these approaches, much was familiar to those paying attention. Lopez-Cantera took a hard line on the “absolute and total failure” of the Obama policy of accommodation with the Castro regime, noting that the Cuban “embargo was never about money; it’s about freedom.” He took an equally staunch position in defense of Israel, as the “only free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, and we’ve turned our back on it.”
He also affirmed the importance of running as, and serving as Lieutenant Governor, noting that “when Governor Scott asked [him] to run, the conventional wisdom was that Crist was going to win.”
“Ensuring that Crist was not elected,” Lopez-Cantera said, was “important.”
About forty Republicans turned out to hear CLC, but by and large they are the important ones in the region, the ones who work longer and harder to get candidates elected than the others. Their presence illustrates the grassroots approach as a potential force multiplier, and how it can work for Lopez-Cantera even in a race where he isn’t the leading fundraiser.
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After the event, FloridaPolitics.com talked to the Lieutenant Governor via phone; he was already headed South.
“There’s no substitute for hard work,” Lopez-Cantera said, noting that during this campaign, he’s put in “five to ten thousand miles a month” travelling the state, connecting with people personally.
We asked him about the introduction of the case for the Florida Republican as opposed to national Republicans, and Lopez-Cantera said that while it did “have something to do with the two Congressmen [Jolly and DeSantis] in the race,” the point itself is not new — he had made it since the Sunshine Summit last year.
“We have governed as conservatives in Florida… driven by policy, driven by results.
This point is lost on the Washington, DC conservatives, “that claim to speak for the conservative movement,” as epitomized by the Club for Growth, which “coronated” candidates… kind of like how the NRSC coronated Crist.”
“These groups out of DC have no clue,” Lopez-Cantera said, noting that one “called me a Charlie Crist Republican… even though I handed Crist his head on a platter” throughout the 2014 campaign.
“I’m focused on Florida,” the Lt. Governor said, “very cognizant of needs” while “everyone else is so consumed with being the DC candidate.”
Regarding the latest entrant into the race, Carlos Beruff, Lopez-Cantera was “not surprised” by Beruff casting aspersions on his bring Lt. Gov.
“The guy’s running against me,” CLC said.
What does concern Lopez-Cantera: “questionable things” about Beruff’s judgement, including siding with Crist after he left the party, being on “both sides of the Cuba issue” as recently as today, and Beruff’s company’s use of Chinese drywall in home construction.
What is clear: Carlos Lopez-Cantera is finding his path in this campaign, successfully defining himself in a way unique from the other candidates. And his path to victory evidently is through an understanding of local needs and issues throughout the state.
