Taddeo Driven by her Father’s ‘Fighting Spirit’

State Senator Annette Taddeo (D) spoke to the Florida Young Democrats Conventions, discussing her upbringing with having a cleft lip and how she was able to overcome that. Moreover, Taddeo is driven by the “fighting spirit” of her father, saying that it will help her win the upcoming primary and general elections.

Florida Rep. Charlie Crist (D) has gained a significant amount of support in recent weeks, and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) has faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. Though Taddeo was last in announcing her candidacy, her campaign assures that all voters need to do is familiarize themselves with Taddeo to know that she should emerge victorious in the upcoming primary election.

Sharing a segment of her talk with the convention, Taddeo expressed, “the fighting spirit I got from my dad is why I’m confident we’ll win this November,” adding, “I know the mountain is high but that’s never stopped me in the past” before affirming that “Together we can make our state work for every Floridian.”

Taddeo has dedicated her campaign appearances to visiting all of Florida’s districts to convince voters that she is running for all Floridians.

On Twitter, Fried shared statistics from a Florida Young Democrats Straw Poll, which showed her at 41% support with Crist at 3% approval. Taddeo is not mentioned in the poll results.

However, although Taddeo has polled low in comparison to her Democratic opponents, the Taddeo campaign maintains hope that polls are not indicative of the outcome.

In an April 21 poll, Nick Merlino, Taddeo’s Campaign Manager, assured that no Democratic gubernatorial candidates has gained “presumptive nominee” status so far, arguing that “if these polls mattered Crist would be in the U.S. Senate, Gwen Graham would be Governor, and we never would have heard of Lawton Chiles or Rick Scott.”

Merlino added, “you should probably ask Governor Adam Putnam about polling this far out.”