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CHARLIE CRIST was governor of Florida for the Republican Party and now he wants to be governor again, but in a more left-wing version and representing the Democratic Party. To achieve his goal, he chose as his running mate Karla Hernandez-Mats, president of a large teachers’ union in Florida and who carries an interesting and radical record on her shoulders.
According to Crist himself, the union of Democrats, independents, and moderate Republicans is enough to defeat Ron DeSantis in November. To seduce these constituencies, he chose the company of Hernandez-Mats.
Her introduction letter started with a controversial post she decided to post on her Twitter account on the day dictator Fidel Castro passed away. “A political figure dies at 90. Most in Miami rejoice, many in Cuba mourn”, she wrote in 2016, with no intention of hiding her sympathy for the Cuban regime.
Karla Hernandez vs. Florida parents
Crist’s running mate currently serves as president of United Teachers of Dade, a large teachers union in Florida. From this position, she built a tense relationship with many parents, either for wanting to keep schools closed during Covid-19, for supporting teaching about systemic racism or for simply comparing them to horror movie characters.
On the first topic, he battled hard against Governor DeSantis to keep kids from attending class in person during the pandemic. Her excuse? It was always too soon to resume activities.
A political figure dies at 90. Most in Miami rejoice, many in Cuba mourn #FidelCastro
— Karla Hernández (@KarlaforFlorida) November 26, 2016
“Are you fired up and ready to take back Florida? Are you tired of the culture wars and the extremists dictating what we can’t say and do?”, she rhetorically asked her audience when Crist announced her as his running mate. “That’s why we’re here today … to defeat DeSantis and bring decency and respect back to the state of Florida”, she added.
Going back to her school policy, at the time, Hernandez-Mats attacked DeSantis because he called for a return to the classroom in light of the considerably lesser impact COVID-19 had on the youngest students. The Democratic candidate ignored the statistics and numerous studies that backed up the Republican’s words.
“The notion that reopening our schools is an option because ‘if you’re younger, it just hasn’t had an impact’ is not only completely contradictory to what we know to be the facts of this pandemic, it is dangerous for our communities at large”, she said.
Meanwhile, he welcomed “anti-racist trainings” in classrooms, since, in her view, it is necessary to have these “uncomfortable conversations”.
For much of 2021, parents across the country showed up at school board meetings to protest against extreme measures for Coronavirus, critical race theory indoctrination and gender ideology in the classroom. It was in this context that Hernandez-Mats posted on his Twitter account an attack against parents, comparing them to terrifying and violent characters, such as Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, among others.
The confrontation between Hernandez-Mats and Florida parents has been more than notorious for a year and a half, even from the union she presides launched the following message against parents: “Except those aren’t parents. In fact, many of them dont even have children. They are soldiers of faux rage, false narratives, and political interests that want to create chaos and keep their base fired up with boogey men and conspiracy theories.”
As for her relationship with President Biden, she was enthusiastic about the first 100 days of his administration, criticized charter schools compared to state schools, and worked alongside the administration at a roundtable of union leaders.
Florida’s gubernatorial election will take place on November 8 and will pit Charlie Crist and Karla Hernandez-Mats against Ron DeSantis and Jeanette Nuñez. The Democratic ticket will seek to stain the state’s governorship blue for the first time in 23 years.
Joaquín Núñez es licenciado en comunicación periodística por la Universidad Católica Argentina. Se especializa en el escenario internacional y en la política nacional norteamericana. Confeso hincha de Racing Club de Avellaneda. Contacto: [email protected] // Joaquín Núñez has a degree in journalistic communication from the Universidad Católica Argentina. He specializes in the international scene and national American politics. Confessed fan of Racing Club of Avellaneda. Contact: [email protected]