HIALEAH, FLORIDA — A crowd of Republicans gathered at the Milander Center for the Arts Tuesday night for an election watch party sponsored by the Republican Party of Florida.
On the first stop of the “Keep Florida Free” tour, Governor Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey joined Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart in Hialeah. “By you coming out in full force this November, we will send a message to this man in the White House that we are fighting back against his destructive policies, and Florida will be the vanguard of freedom in this country,” DeSantis said confidently.
The governor spoke about his COVID-19 policies that protected businesses and jobs in the Sunshine State, limiting local restrictions, while the rest of the country enforced lockdowns and mandates. “While so many governors and mayors were trying to lock people down, here in Florida, we lifted people up,” he said.
SHOW OF SUPPORT
In Tuesday’s primary, neither DeSantis nor Rubio had challengers, but they used the opportunity to show support for parents, law enforcement, and candidates in both Florida and U.S. congressional races.
Rubio, seeking a third term in the Senate, said his goal in congress is to keep anything else bad from happening in Washington. He criticized Val Demings, who won the Democratic primary, for having little to show for her six years in office. “My opponent is a congresswoman by the name of Val Demings. She’s been there for six years, and she’s voted with Nancy Pelosi 100 percent of the time,” Rubio said.
VOLUNTEERS TO HELP RUBIO
According to campaign finance records, Rubio raised just over $36 million for his campaign, while Demings raised just over $47 million. The Florida Standard spoke to Republican donors at Tuesday night’s event who said that Rubio might be in trouble – they’ve volunteered to knock on hundreds of doors to help his campaign, a move they hope will make a difference come November.
Maria Elvira Salazar made a brief appearance and announced her landslide win in the District 27 primary against Frank Polo with more than 80 percent of the vote. She rallied the Hispanic crowd with a message in Spanish and reminded them that they came to America to escape communist oppression.
The Keep Florida Free tour will make additional stops this week in Seminole, Duval, and Hillsborough counties.
