TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — President Donald Trump was a focal point in a special election last week in Florida that is sending Annette Taddeo to Tallahassee as the first Hispanic Democrat in the Florida Senate.
Taddeo beat Republican Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz by nearly 4 percentage points.
Democrats latched on to the fact that Diaz had been a contestant on Trump’s reality TV show The Apprentice before becoming a state representative.
During the campaign, Diaz deleted a selfie he had tweeted of himself with Trump just before the inauguration, saying the photo had become a distraction.
Diaz far outspent Taddeo and had the benefit of a better-organized state Republican Party.
But Democrats made Trump a talking point in advertising, speeches and fundraising campaigns, and grassroots efforts included sending handwritten cards to fellow voters to encourage turnout.
“Democrats made it a proxy war, and we tried to make it about this election,” Diaz said. “That wasn’t the strategy on the other side and ultimately it paid off for them.”