Annette Taddeo
Annette Joan Taddeo-Goldstein (née Taddeo; born April 7, 1967) is an American politician and businesswoman serving as a member of the Florida Senate from the 40th district. She was an unsuccessful candidate for several elections starting in 2008 and was Charlie Crist's running mate in the 2014 Florida gubernatorial election. She is a Democratic candidate in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election. Early life and education. Taddeo was born in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, to an Italian-American father and Colombian mother. Her early life was spent in Colombia until she moved to live with family friends in Huntsville , Alabama, at the age of 17. She graduated from the University of North Alabama with a degree in commercial Spanish. Shortly after, she moved to Miami. In 1995, Taddeo started a translation business, now called LanguageSpeak. Career. Taddeo entered politics in 2008 when she ran against Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for Florida's 18th Congressional District, which then included parts of coastal Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys. Taddeo was unopposed in the Democratic primary but lost to Ros-Lehtinen in the general election, 58 to 42%. Two years later, Taddeo ran for an open seat on the Miami-Dade  County Commission. She placed third in the nonpartisan primary, garnering 21%. Taddeo remained active in local Democratic politics, and in December 2012 was elected chair of the county's Democratic Executive Committee. As county party chair, she organized support for successful Democratic candidates in Miami Beach, Homestead, and other local elections. She also led an effort for Democrats to compete in every local State House election in 2014. In the end, only two of the seats within the county lacked a Democratic candidate that year, the fewest since 1984. 2014 Florida gubernatorial election. In July 2014, gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist , who had previously served as governor as a Republican, named Taddeo as his running mate. The Crist-Taddeo ticket lost the general election to incumbent Republican Governor Rick Scott and Lieutenant Governor Carlos López-Cantera, 48.1 to 47.1%. 2016 congressional campaign. Taddeo ran for Congress again in 2016, in the 26th district, based in southern Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys. She lost the Democratic primary to former Congressman Joe Garcia, 51.3 to 48.7%. Garcia went on to lose the general election to the incumbent, Republican Carlos Curbelo. During the campaign, some of Taddeo's secret campaign documents, some of  which highlighted her weaknesses as a candidate, were made public. It later came out that Taddeo was one of several Democratic House candidates targeted by Russian hackers, and the documents were stolen from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and released to reporters and bloggers in order to undermine Democratic campaigns in competitive districts. Florida Senate. In September 2017, Taddeo was elected in a special election for Florida's Senate District 40. The election was called to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Republican Senator Frank Artiles. Taddeo won the primary election against former State Representative and Miami-Dade  School Board Member Ana Rivas Logan, 71 to 29%. Taddeo defeated Republican State Representative José Félix Díaz in the general election, 51 to 47%. 2022 Florida gubernatorial election. In October 2021, Taddeo announced she would run for the Democratic Governor of Florida in 2022. Notably, she will face Charlie Crist, who she ran alongside in his 2014 campaign for governor. Personal life. Taddeo is married to Eric Goldstein, a Miami psychologist. They have a daughter, Sofia. Annette also has twin stepdaughters from her husband's previous marriage.