Renzo Downey
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist hasn’t formally announced his running mate against Gov. Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, but the GOP is already drilling into his presumptive pick.
According to Friday reports, the St. Petersburg Democratic Congressman and former Governor will pick United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats to run alongside him in November.
The announcement is slated for Saturday.
As a thrice-elected union leader, Hernandez-Mats often runs contrary to DeSantis and Republicans’ education agenda, which is taking center stage this election cycle.
“Charlie Crist’s choice for his running mate is another slap in the face to Florida parents,” the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) said in a statement. “It confirms how out of touch Crist is with Florida families by picking an extremist like Karla Mats that supported school closures, forced masking and, if given the opportunity, would allow the indoctrination of Florida students.”
It’s a pivotal time for education, with most conservatives and progressives split on where the power should rest when it comes to school safety, education on sexual orientation and gender identity and how race and privilege should be taught.
DeSantis’ influence on that front is undeniable. Most of the GOP-aligned School Board candidates he endorsed either won their seats outright Aug. 23 or are headed to runoffs. Democrats are looking to stop the bleeding, and Hernandez-Mats’ voice rings loud among UTD’s 30,000 members and the 1.7 million members of its parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers, of which she is vice president.
“Mats must be puzzled that Charlie chose her given that she, as president of the Miami-Dade teachers union, delivered a big defeat to Democrats right in her own backyard of Miami-Dade County, where candidates endorsed by Governor DeSantis flipped the school board to prioritize students and parents,” the RPOF continued.
“Floridians, especially parents, will give Charlie and his activist running mate a well-deserved boot out the door come November.”
30 comments
Tom
August 26, 2022 at 7:02 pm
Just a joke, like chameleon.
Charlie Crist
August 26, 2022 at 8:04 pm
Just a joke like Pizza Gaetz, Fraud Scott, Marco Boobio, Ron Mini Hitler, and…FAT CAMMACK..AkA your face sitter.🍩
Fat Cammack
August 26, 2022 at 10:49 pm
^ Needs nude face sit by Fat Cammack…yeah gargantuan scrub 🍩
Jerry
August 26, 2022 at 7:51 pm
Did Crist not pay attention to what just happened on Tuesday where Florida voters kicked out these far-left school board members? And now he makes the teachers union president his running mate?
This only helps prove DeSantis is right. That the schools are overrun by far-left extremist in the teacher’s unions.
Charlie Crist
August 26, 2022 at 8:27 pm
The kids will get woke or go broke in college… doesn’t matter about school boards. Moving forward, everyone who is not woke will not make a dime..get the best jobs. Woke is just the bare minimum of how people should treat each other in a civilized society. This is what deplorables don’t understand….
Kevin
August 27, 2022 at 8:21 am
DeSantis is a far right extremist.
Tom
August 27, 2022 at 8:49 am
Yes, he’s aware and this is his irresponsible answer, and reply.
You can’t reform reform from the bought off, paid off, corrupt beings.
He’s admitting it. He wants it to advance.
To say this person is a lightweight is a understatement. Disastrous selection.
marylou
August 26, 2022 at 8:51 pm
No, the real slap is Desantis’ attack on women’s rights and bodily autonomy. He has twice vetoed contraceptives for low income women, certainly resulting in unwanted pregnancies. Now he is denying them abortions. If re-elected, Desantis will demand a total abortion ban. In 2018, even with Roe, he promised a six week ban. With Roe overturned, Desantis will be free to completely take away women’s right to control their own lives.Desantis feels no responsibility to protect rape and incest victims even if they are preteens. He is fine with forcing elementary school girls into motherhood. Desantis wants to turn-back women’s rights to 1950.
Chris
August 26, 2022 at 11:25 pm
Thank you! Let’s stand up for women! No forced birth!
Kevin
August 27, 2022 at 8:28 am
DeSantis wants a total abortion ban and he wants to ban books that he does not approve of from schools and wants to ban anybody who is not for his far right extremist agenda. So much for freedom.
Impeach Biden
August 27, 2022 at 8:40 am
Do you read Kevin? Florida abortions are legal up to 15 weeks. Over 90% of them are currently done before the time limit. Don’t be fooled by MSNBC or CNN.
marylou
August 27, 2022 at 5:01 pm
Desantis’ radical statements and actions since 2018 make it clear that he will demand a total ban if re-elected. Florida will be like Texas, where Republicans are now suing to force emergency departments to deny abortions to patients experiencing a medical emergency. Republicans are actually taking away women’s right to life in Texas. You can’t really think that Desantis is going to let Abbott take 1st place in the extremism contest?
Christie
August 26, 2022 at 9:46 pm
WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE can Ron speak about anything else and really what does WOKE mean?!!!
Charlie Crist
August 27, 2022 at 9:39 am
WOKE is just the bare minimum of how people should treat each other in a civilized society. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
Daniel ONeill
August 26, 2022 at 11:24 pm
DeSantis is not putting education decisions in parents hands he is telling parents what will and will not be acceptable education curriculums. He and his cronies are telling you what books you can read and what you cannot. He tells you that people you over whelmingly elected to office are not fit to deserve.
Chris
August 26, 2022 at 11:26 pm
Exactly!
Tom Palmer
August 26, 2022 at 11:48 pm
This was pretty predictable.Wonder why it is even news.
Impeach Biden
August 27, 2022 at 7:38 am
I figured Charlie was going to pick one of his boy toys from Wilton Manors. Doesn’t matter, he will get rolled in November.
Kevin
August 27, 2022 at 8:24 am
How’s your Ku Klux Klan gig going?
Impeach Biden
August 27, 2022 at 8:41 am
When’s the next BLM smash and grab event?
Charlie Crist
August 27, 2022 at 9:42 am
When is the next Fat Cammack head sit? Yeah turned your brain into a pancake she did..also scrubbed face raw🍩💋
SoFlo Educator
August 27, 2022 at 7:46 am
So Karla has done nothing to restore the salary steps where some teachers with 16-22 years are $10,000-$20,000 underpaid and has a base salary of $2,000-$4,000 more than a brand new teacher and opposes efforts to do so; she can’t maintain membership as more than half of teachers are not union members as clerical, security, and substitutes barely put them between 50-51% density to avoid decertification; and most of her endorsements went down in flames last Tuesday. I guess Sorry Charlie rewards failure, and will lose my vote as well as the votes of those teachers and their family members that were financially harmed. Crist slapped veteran teachers of Miami-Dade and Florida, as well as true-blue labor, in the face, and will deservedly go down in flames with this sorry choice of a running mate in two months.
Kevin
August 27, 2022 at 8:23 am
You’re a far right extremist.
SoFlo Educator
August 27, 2022 at 2:03 pm
Kevin,
You stupid sellout, get a clue. No, I am not an insurrectionist Trumpkin like you.
https://takebackourutd.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwAR0PLbCdeH0sAFsZtAub1M-lOHNMuZSTPJKSQd5qR2gL1e5LGfl7G8i1P-E
Leonard Spencer
August 27, 2022 at 8:27 am
My guess is that most of the qualified candidates for LG turned him down knowing full well Charlies has virtually no chance of winning in November. When he was a Republican he at least had the good sense to pick a conservative Legislator who not only firmed up the base–but knew his way around the Capitol…someone that could help him govern. This is a pandering pick–someone who has no clue how state government works.
Tom
August 27, 2022 at 8:58 am
LMAO, chameleon crisp pandering LOL. The classic weather vane, thumb in air, he’s clueless. Chameleon has no core. He’s soulless. Talks 3 ways out of his buttock.
How do you repay someone who got trounced Tuesday locally, name them your Lt Gov running mate. Nunez runs circles right this extremist tard.
Nikki Fraud literally the worst public official in history and worst candidate, is now replaced by even worse.
Thank you chameleon, 4 more yrs Gov Ron.
Charlie Crist
August 27, 2022 at 9:44 am
^ Needs Nikki Fried anchovy scrub, Fat Cammack face sit, Marjorie Taylor Greene sardine smack 🍩💋
Tom
August 27, 2022 at 12:21 pm
Total train wreck.
Chameleon will not recover from this disastrous pick.
Just a joke.
PeterH
August 27, 2022 at 9:47 pm
More sour grapes for the failing Florida GQP!
Ron DeSantis can only wish he had Karla Hernandez-Mats on his side. Republicans see their independent voter support slipping away. Not just in Florida but across the USA. Republicans will regret installing Trump MAGA wingnuts on the ballot.
Tom
August 28, 2022 at 6:45 am
You moron peter h, clueless as always. Matz is a neophyte, knows nothing bout state govt.
Btw, Matz got rear kicked primary eve. Lost to Gov Ron school board.
Just a joke selection. Pathetic loser like Charlie.
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