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A FEW days ago, Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist announced Karla Hernández, president of the Miami-Dade teachers’ union, as his running mate. Criticism was not long in coming.
Hernández has made comments in the past that seem to flatter Fidel Castro.
Also, Florida is one of the states with one of the most extensive school choice programs in the country-something the teacher’s unions vehemently oppose and something that gave Governor DeSantis victory in 2018 by a small margin.
As such, Hernández seems an ill-suited candidate for an increasingly conservative state like Florida.
At the same time, a few weeks ago, it was discovered that Democratic Rep. Vicente González paid a blogger who wrote racist and sexist comments against Mayra Flores, the Republican representative he’s set to face in November. González condemned the remarks shortly after that, but the damage was done.
These two examples of clumsiness illustrate a more significant point: Do Democrats want to lose in November? Do they want to alienate Hispanics from their coalition? It seems increasingly true what Texas 15th District Congressional candidate Mónica de la Cruz told me in an interview: Latinos in America haven’t changed; The Democratic Party has.
Edgar is political scientist and philosopher. He defends the Catholic intellectual tradition. Edgar writes about religion, ideology, culture, US politics, abortion, and the Supreme Court. Twitter: @edgarjbb_ // Edgar es politólogo y filósofo. Defiende la tradición intelectual católica. Edgar escribe sobre religión, ideología, cultura, política doméstica, aborto y la Corte Suprema. Twitter: @edgarjbb_