Even though Florida Sen. Annette Taddeo has raised more than twice as much campaign fodder for her re-election as her challenger, Republican superwoman Marili Cancio has more cash in hand, according to the latest campaign reports.
That’s because Taddeo has outspent Cancio, who has only been campaigning since June, by almost ten times.
Cancio has reportedly raised $319,457 between her campaign account and her PAC, Friends of Marili Cancio, according to latest campaign reports filed that tallied through Sept. 14 and Sept. 21, respectively. That’s less than half of the to the $760,408 raised by the sitting senator between her campaign account and her PAC, Fight Back Florida, only counting the funds since she won the seat in a special election in September, 2017.
But Taddeo has spent close to $530,000 since October 2017 and Cancio has only spent about $60K. That means Cancio has a small edge in cash on hand, by the tune of about $20K. Not enough to really make a difference. And she has struggled in the most recent reports, so maybe the donations were early and have been spent.
Read related: GOP’s Marili Cancio vs Dem Sen. Annette Taddeo in ‘year of the woman’
Of course, money is not everything. Taddeo won her seat in last year’s special election against former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz, who had more than three times as much campaign funding as she did.
And also, this doesn’t count outside party money. Like the kind that paid for mailers that arrived in the district last week, courtesy the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (pro Cancio) and the Florida Democrats Legislative Campaign Committee (anti Cancio). A source involved in the race told Ladra that Taddeo had sent two positive pieces earlier, but this negative attack on Cancio’s support of the Marshall Program that puts guns in schools is the first received by Ladra.
“She’s worried. My campaign is too clean,” Cancio told Ladra in a text message over the weekend.
“You are not going to get mail from me because yo are now a registered D,” she added, with a smiley face emoji. “Focused on NPAs — can’t afford the entire universe.”
It’s true that in her own mail piece, she is appealing to NPAs and trying to come off as moderate. “I am a state senate candidate because I want to bring new ideas and perspectives to the challenges we face in our community, overcoming partisan politics,” the piece from the Senate Campaign Committee says, but in Spanish.
It landed last week in Ladra’s home, but addressed to both of Ladra’s parents, “Hispanics over 60,” an often sought voting bloc. One is Republican but one is registered Democrat, so Cancio’s universe is bigger than she says.
Read related: Jose Felix Diaz outspends Annette Taddeo 3 to 1 plus — but loses anyway
The intro/bio piece, which has waaaaay too much copy on it, has the word “Republican” only in one place — the tiny type disclaimer. It focuses on her community work — stints on the board of Directors at Miami Dade College (it doesn’t say she was appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Scott), the Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board, the Miami-Dade County Hispanic Affairs Board, the Florida Association of Universities and as pro bono attorney for La Liga Contra El Cancer.
“She has always put the interests of our community above partisan politics,” it says.
But who is Marili kidding? This is the Republican Superwoman, a nickname Ladra gave her because of her hard work for the party. She was proud of it before she needed NPA voters to help her win this seat. She constantly defended Trump on Twitter, which is the reason why she has deactivated her old account for a new campaign one — to hide all that partisan Trumpism.
But make no mistake about it, Marili Cancio is as puro GOP as they get. Cancio, who was recruited by the Republican Party, has been involved in local GOP causes, the Women’s Federated Republican club and has been a surrogate for national and state candidates on Spanish TV and radio for years, often providing the Republican voice on This Week in South Florida, where she goes out of her way to defend and promote the GOP agenda.
Of course, the people who vote in District 40 may not know that. Because they don’t know Cancio at all and they are getting very toned down version of her. It’s time Taddeo use some of her funds to let people know who Cancio really is.

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Sorry Ladra has had to take a week to recover from the primaries and, yes, I am talking mostly about congressional district 27, where I was part of the campaign. My candidate came in third and, even though she was always the underdog and most expected her to do worse, it still hurts a bit.
But not as much as the dread of November, where I have to choose between Republican Fidel fawner Maria Elvira Salazar and former UM queen bitch Donna Shalala.
I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.
The rest of the primary was oh so blah — Andrew Gillum‘s upset win being the only real bright light — that there was just no urgency to report or analyze the results or local impact or winners and losers. Even though former Miami Beach mayor Phillip Levine sure lost — even in hometown Miami-Dade — but I’ll get to gloat another day.
To be fair, on election night I was also watching two House races in real time: District 115, where I live and where Republican nominee Vance Aloupis rode his attack ads and establishment money to a short-lived victory — Jeffrey Solomon is poised to take this seat blue in November — and District 103, where Cindy Polo beat the plantidate and is well on her way to becoming a state rep. Former Miami Lakes Councilman Frank “Fat Chance” Mingo just got a new nickname.
Read related: Possible plantidate forces Democrat primary in House 103 for the GOP
True, there was that empty gut feeling after every county commission incumbent — even former Sen. Javier Souto, who is really going to embarrass himself now — won re-election. The problem is that nobody is getting serious about putting up real candidates and then giving them the support they need to win.
Ladra was surprised as anyone that Analeen “Annie” Martinez, the commissioner’s daughter, was unable to win the Republican primary, even though she was better financed than anyone by far — and than Juan Fernandez-Barquin by at least $100,000 not counting any PACs — and, one would think, have the more experienced campaign team. But Martinez came in 23 points behind Fernandez-Barquin, who got 44% of the vote.
There were some happy results, including David Perez for the Democratic nominee in the Senate race against Manny Diaz Jr. (more on that later), Jason Pizzo and Dotie Joseph over incumbents Daphne Campbell and Roy Hardemon, respectively, and former Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco over the other two duds in that race. Grieco (photographed right) becomes the defacto state rep because that district is just bluer than the sky and will go Dem in Novem. I like Mike. I hope he is basking in this, which is a double whammy for Levine.
Now we move on to the general, which has to live up to all the 2018 election hype all by itself because he primary fizzled. Which races become important to Ladra now?
Read related: Michael Grieco best choice in House 113 race
Well, the governor’s race. I am Team Andrew and want to start looking into that election and those issues. Because almost anyone is better than Ron De Santis anyway. And, while I have to watch FL27 as a reluctant voter, I am more interested now in FL26 as a blogger and political junkie. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell has a real chance to take this seat away from incumbent Republican Carlos Curbelo, if she does it right. Part of that will be to expose him for the sniveling, lying opportunist that he is. Call me, Debbie.
We are also looking forward to the contest between Sen. Annette Taddeo and Republican superwoman Marili Cancio. Ladra sure hopes Annette is not taking her for granted. People tend to like Marili. Lots of people. Purple people, too. Even I like Marili.
Read related: GOP’s Marili Cancio vs Dem Sen. Annette Taddeo in ‘year of the woman’
But at the state level, Ladra is, as promised months ago, a single issue voter. Parkland is still fresh in my mind. Maybe it’s because my daughter was at a very similar high school in South Florida that day. Maybe its from the way I saw young people get woke. Maybe it was from watching Republican after Republican deny legitimate and worthy amendments and turn what could have been a national model for gun reform into a way to put guns in schools.
The real test of the impact the school shooting will have on elections is not in the primary, after all. It is in November. And it will be difficult for many of us to support any Republican this year because of their behavior after Parkland.
But it will be fun to watch them try.

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The Republicans know former State Sen. Frank Artiles wouldn’t stand a chance against newly-minted Sen. Annette Taddeo in a rematch so close to his fall from grace: Artiles was forced to resign his seat last year after he was caught in a drunken, racist and sexist tirade against fellow legislators in a Tallahassee watering hole, setting up a special election in District 40.
Democrat Taddeo won the seat in a bitter fight with former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz.
But how would she fare against a Repubican superwoman? We’re about to find out.
In the “year of the woman,” the GOP has apparently settled on Marili Cancio to run against Taddeo and try to take that seat back. Because she wasn’t their first choice.
Several sources have told Ladra that former Miami-Dade Commissioner and State Rep. Juan Zapata and State Rep. Jeanette Nuñez, who terms out this year and has not found a place to land, were both encouraged to run before Cancio. Zapata said he had “been approached through third parties. I was clear from the get-go that I had no interest.”  Nuñez doesn’t want to have to move.
Las malas lenguas also say party honchos tried to convince two of the five Republicans running in the open race in House District 115, vacated by termed-out Michael Bileca, to switch — although not Bileca himself?
Everybody knows that Cancio, who has served on Republican clubs and is often invited to TV programs to present the GOP side of every argument — you know, because they’re always right — makes a great candidate. She’s knowledgeable. She’s smart. She’s pretty. She’s well spoken. She’s practiced. She doesn’t get nervous. She’s got access to people with money.
Okay. So she lost her first attempt at elected office in the 2010 Republican primary for congress against David “Nine Lives” Rivera, getting only 11% and finishing third, under even “Captain” Paul Crespo, who got 24% despite having been arrested for DUI. Not a good first showing.  But she is much more well-known and stronger now.
Some political observers might ask why she’d try again in a bluish district in a blue wave year. Seems like a waste of political capital. Ladra says it’s because Marili likes a challenge. If it were easy, she wouldn’t be into it.
But she also doesn’t buy into all the hype.
“I don’t think that special elections are a true reflection of what’s going to happen in a general election,” Cancio said, referring to a wave of Democrat wins in special elections across the state — including Taddeo’s. “Independents are going to be very important.”
Cancio, the daughter of onetime Miami-Dade Commissioner and concrete giant Jose “Pepe” Cancio, said she was courted to campaign and had already discussed moving to the district to be closer to her son in South Miami and her just pregnant daughter in Pinecrest. She decided to go for it — and will be renting in the Dadeland area while she puts her Key Biscayne house up for sale — because Taddeo has done nothing, she said.
“She didn’t bring back any dollars. She voted against gun control, she voted against the budget, she voted against a raise for teachers,” Cancio said, adding that her contacts would have her hit the ground running from Day 1. “I’m going to bring the money back to Miami-Dade that she’s not able to bring,” she said.
But when she said that Taddeo voted “against gun control,” what she meant was against the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Student Safety Act because of the Marshall Program that puts guns in the hands of school staffers, which caused a quite a few Dems to vote against the bill, which passed 67-50 after a divisive debate with some victims’ family members against it.
“If she wants this to be about arming teachers and the defunding of our public schools, then bring it on,” Taddeo told Ladra Wednesday. “If she had bothered to go to any of the town halls that I went to in the District, she would know that we are severely underfunded and that people don’t want guns in schools.”
As expected, Taddeo voted against the MSD bill, named after the high school in Parkland where 17 lives were taken in a mass school shooting, because it puts guns in schools and because “all it does is provide an unfunded mandate,” Taddeo said, referring to the $400 million the state said should go to school hardening. “And after we worked so hard to take out the arming of teachers, they left in the arming of other people — the lunch lady, the librarian, the janitor — and I’m not okay with that.”
She said she spent much of the first session building relationships. She studied all the Republican bills and tried to find one bill from each GOP senator that she could co-sponsor. “So I could meet them and talk to them about the bill I liked,” she said. “We have to find what we have in common.” She said Republican lawmakers expected a party first liberal and she surprised them by being a small business owner.
“I actually do make payroll every two weeks,” said Taddeo, who owns a firm that does language translating. “They didn’t know this.”
She ended up co-sponsoring five bills with Republicans.
But her claim to fame is a flood insurance (SB 1282) bill that she sponsored and really carried through session. It passed unanimously and basically forces homeowners to sign the part of their insurance policy that would show they know they don’t have flood insurance if they don’t specifically get flood insurance. It is intended to encourage more people to get flood insurance coverage.
“I worked with the insurance industry to make sure we didn’t overburden them,” she said.
Now, Ladra would hate to think that Cancio is the type of candidate that would stretch the truth to get elected.
But Taddeo also did happened to bring some dollars back home, including funding for the Miami Military Museum, a project originally sponsored by none other than Artiles. Sen. Taddeo will be at the upcoming ribbon cutting. Other appropriations bills she sponsored or co-sponsored include:

$250k for a Children of Inmates project “Babies and Brains,” which is targeted towards early childhood education of children with incarcerated parents (an extremely high-risk group of children
$25 Million for post-hurricane beach recovery
$80 Million for Miami-Dade adults with disabilities
$750k for the Miami-Dade Institute for Child and Family Health
$250K for the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust
$69k for the West Miami Community Center
$1 Million for Zoo Miami
$400k to fund the Miami Fire and Rescue Department Mobile Command Center
$1 Million for the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center to research cures for firefighters with cancer
Nearly $100 Million to FIU and MDC in education appropriations

“I actually had an extremely successful first session not only in money to be distributed, but even projects that had never been funded before,” Taddeo said.
Marili should have at least known about the money for Miami Dade College, where she has served on the board of trustees for seven years. The biggest “sacrifice” running for office is to give up that seat, she said. But she also believes that experience is going to help her get elected. “I know what we need here, the infrastructure we need,” Cancio said.
A known Trump supporter who often defends his policy decisions on TV and radio, Cancio said she didn’t think that would hurt her in this election. “The economy is doing better. Businesses are doing better,” she said. “I’m running for state, not federal, and I’m going to make that about local issues, transit issues.”
Well, one thing is certain: The debates are going to be interesting.

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For the past three years, select electeds in Miami Beach have used a city non-profit to “provide assistance to worthy and qualified community needs and projects.”
But it looks like a slush fund of special interest money to dole out for political favors and even votes.
One Miami Beach, Inc., a 501c3 formed by resolution in 2014 at former Mayor Philip Levine‘s request, has raised almost half a million dollars through last year — much of it from vendors and contractors and lobbyists with business before the city — and it has used the funds to buy computers at Nautilus Middle School, team uniforms at Miami Beach High, movie tickets and art classes and paella parties for seniors and more than 1,500 frozen turkeys for the holidays.
Many of these bribes, er, gifts to the community were right before the elections in 2015 and 2017. What a coincidence!
It’s not like Levine hasn’t done this kind of thing before. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate was caught red-handed, while in office in 2014, directing funds from city vendors and contractors to a shady political action committee. Relentless for Progress was even mocked for its initials, RFP, the same initials used in procurement to solicit “requests for proposals” on government projects. Levine had to hastily distance himself from and eventually dissolve the PAC.
Then, when nobody was watching, he turned around and formed this slush fund, er, non-profit — giving donors another outlet.
The resolution says the mayor is the chairman and appoints two other commissioners as members. Levine appointed former Commissioners Joy Malakoff and Jonah Wolfson, who was his partner on the shady Relentless PAC (photographed right). When Wolfson’s term was up, Levine replaced him with his new BFF, Commissioner Ricky Arriola.
After newly-elected Mayor Dan Gelber was sworn in, he became the chairman and he appointed Commisssioner Micky Steinberg to replace Malakoff, who did not seek re-election but was offered a $50,000 “community outreach” contract with the city last week that she turned down days later after it raised a bunch of eyebrows. Gelber also wants the funds to be used primarily for “educational enhancements” and not “willy nilly.”
Related: Ex Miami Beach Commissioner Joy Malakoff gets, then drops juicy $50K city job
But we wouldn’t even know about this shady non profit if it weren’t for Commissioner Michael Góngora, who had asked about it at last week’s meeting. He said that since the non-profit was operating as a fundraising arm of the city’s, that expenditures ought to be brought to the commission for approval.
“Only three of the seven members ever control the use of those funds. I’m concerned about raising money as a commission but I never have a say in how those monies are dispersed,” Góngora said. “If it’s going to be the official 501c3 for Miami Beach, we should at least know what the organization is doing.”
Gelber, who doesn’t seem the most transparent anymore, tried to shut him down. “It’s not quite public money… it’s not any public money at all,” he said.
Commissioner John Elizabeth Aleman said she agreed with Góngora. “I don’t question the expenditures. They were noble and worthwhile. But it was not transparent to me,” she said. And then she basically admits that the whole idea was to shake down city bidders and vendors.
“We thought there were city of Miami Beach procurement contracts that could have an element, a good will in them, to benefit the community, the schools,” Aleman said, adding that, sure, alumni and others could also donate. “But we were looking for something more consistent that could be counted on at a certain level each year.”
Oh really?
Arriola got defensive, which made him look guilty right away.
“I just take exception because I know what’s going on here. There’s a hint of something nefarious. Phil, Ricky, Joy using this… all the money came from Philip and I,” Arriola said.  “I’m not stupid. There’s a nefarious inference when comments have been made in the past about One Miami Beach and Mayor Levine and I just take exception when it’s us donating our salaries to it. Pretty much 100 percent of the funds came from us, even though it’s your pet projects that we’re donating our salaries to.”
But Ricky is either really bad at math or a liar. Because while he may have felt generous in 2016, giving his $34,750 salary and benefits package to One Miami Beach, Inc., that was not where all the non-profit’s money came from. And he didn’t do it any other year. It appears that Levine did give two years worth of salary and benefits for a total of $97,275.
Arriola lied to everybody at that commission meeting Feb. 14 and everybody watching it on TV or online. That’s a violation of a county ethics ordinance.
Related: Levine and Wolfson on defense for shady PAC
But the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust ought to look into more than just that. Because the reason Arriola lied was the donations that are there from many contractors and vendors who are prohibited from giving campaign contributions precisely because they have dealings with the city. Was this a legal loophole around that? This sure looks like another pay-for-play scheme, just like the shady PAC.
Among the contributors:

$40,000 from four development companies at One Fisher Island
$17.500 from David Mancini and Sons, real estate developers and pipeline specialists
$10,000 from Terranova Corporation
$10,000 from Lanzo Construction
$6,300 from Boucher Brothers, who run most if not all the city’s beach concessions
$5,000 from Beach Towing
$5,000 from Treemont Towing
$5,000 from Laz Parking
$5,000 from lobbyist and Levine pal Alex Heckler

There are some questionable disbursements, too. Who got the 100 tickets for the Florida Grand Opera? More than $6,000 of computer equipment for we-don’t-know-who and one hell of a TV for $1,000 for North Beach Elementary, both at Best Buy. A $5,000 donation (?) to the Miami Beach Housing Authority, it says for “housing,” and $106 worth of racing gloves, purportedly, for a turkey giveaway.
Then there is the thousands that went to different animal hospitals, from Doral to South Miami, for “animal welfare,” Levine’s latest fetish, including $10,000 to the Alton Road Animal Clinic for “kitten medical treatment.” Is that one really sick kitten or many kittens?
But maybe the most glaring issue is at least seven different paella and centennial parties at senior centers that are absentee ballot hubs conveniently right before the elections in 2015.
Investigators can start by talking to Gloria Campos, who was paid or reimbursed at least a couple of thousands from One Miami Beach and apparently helped with the paella parties.

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Former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz is nothing if not a formidable fundraiser.

Everyone expected the Senate District 40 race to be expensive and Ladra even suggested it could be the most expensive Senate race in Florida history. We’ll have to wait until the final campaign finance reports are submitted weeks from now, but so far it looks like at least $5.5 million has been spent so far on TV and phone banks and so many mailers. Some days, there were eight pieces in our mailbox. Eight!

Maybe it will be $6 million plus by the final tally.

Is that a record? Can anyone tell me?

Diaz, a Republican golden boy who lost this heated battle in an upset against perennial loser Annette Taddeo Tuesday (51% to 47%) spent more than three times as much as the victor with a whopping $4,283,911 between his campaign account and his two PACs, Rebuild Florida and Leadership for Florida’s Future, in his bid to jump from one chamber to the next. That includes $651,694 in in-kind donations — mostly for polling, research and staff — from the Florida Republican Senatorial Committee because the GOP was just as desperate to keep the seat as the Dems were at taking it back.

And that is just as of Sept. 21, the last date on the last filed report. When the last reports are in next month, illustrating the flurry of expenses on the last five days, that number could easily be closer to $5 million.

But let’s just keep it at $4.2 mil for now. That’s $4,283,911 for a total of 20,985 votes, which comes out to $204.14 per vote. Again, so far. That number is only going to go up.

In comparison, Taddeo, spent a total of about $1,286,032 between her account and her two PACs, Fight Back Florida and the Florida Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. That also includes at least $274,213 in in-kind donations from the Florida Democratic Party for things like research and polling and campaign staff. Divided amongst the 22,649 who voted for her Tuesday, that comes out to $56.78 a vote.

Much of the spending went to the

What does this tell us? This tells us that Team Taddeo was able to do more with less and that the people on that team, which include Ashley Walker, Christian Ulvert, Carlos Odio and, I believe, Raul Martinez Jr., should be banking on the next campaign they work on. That is, if they don’t have Senate jobs by now.

It also tells us that Pepi Diaz could spend up to $200 or more per vote if/when he runs for Attorney General. He’s going to put those fundraising skills to the test.

Proving that tenacity and good old stubborn persistence can pay off, perennial candidate Annette Taddeo finally won an election Tuesday.

And against a “titan” like former State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, who spent at least twice as much money (more on that later), too.

Taddeo beat Diaz by a comfortable edge, 50.95 to 47.21 percent for Diaz. The difference went to professor and independent candidate Christian “He-Man” Schlaerth, who managed to get 820 people to vote for him. But, let’s face it, he likely peeled votes from Annette so without him she would have won bigger.

Was this a referendum on Donald Trump?

Some seem to think so. The director of the local SEIU, which represents property service workers, including airport workers and janitors, said “Annette Taddeo’s victory is a stunning rebuke of the divisive politics of hate that have been embraced by many Republicans in Tallahassee and Washington.

“We’re excited that Annette will be heading to Tallahassee to fight for raising the minimum wage, good public schools, immigrant rights and equality for all Floridians,” finished Helene O’Brien.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee tweeted that Taddeo’s win was the seventh red-to-blue flip across the U.S. since November and “is just the latest example of voters rejecting Trump and the GOP’s dangerous agenda.”

People who voted for Taddeo and tweeted about it also indicated that anti-Trump sentiment was at least in the back of their minds. “Just did the thing! Hope everyone who cried about trump being elected went out and did their part,” tweeted Nick at @holywavve, including a pic of the “just voted” sticker.

And that was the idea. State Democrats were desperate to turn the seat back around after losing it to the GOP last year. They and Taddeo’s campaign made a lot of comparisons between Diaz and Trump and used the picture of them that Diaz tweeted from last year’s inaugural — and then deleted when he entered this race — on several mailers (sometimes in one day). One of them even blew up a picture of a Trump note from an old campaign contribution, before he was POTUS, wishing Pepi Diaz good luck.

Diaz, who was once Trump’s “apprentice” on the TV show by the same name, was definitely cast as a supporter and surrogate for the orange-haired commander in chief. Democrats are giddy that the Trump card is working — and you can bet we will see more of it.

Said Senate Democratic Leader-Designate Jeff Clemens: “I am thrilled to congratulate Annette Taddeo on her great victory. The Florida Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee committed to righting a wrong in this district and electing a proven champion who will join our caucus to fight for an agenda that puts working families first.”

It was about “righting a wrong.” That refers to the win last year over longtime Sen. Dwight Bullard by former State Rep. and short-lived Sen. Frank Artiles, who was caught making racist remarks to black colleagues in a public restaurant and was forced to resign. And it gave Democrats — not just locally but across the state and even the nation — a second chance to win the seat back.

“Congratulations to Annette Taddeo on this major victory for Miami-Dade and our entire state. This is a win for all of Florida. Democrats represent 16 of 40 state Senate seats. Annette will head to Tallahassee ready to fight for higher paying jobs, affordable healthcare and fully funded public schools. Democrats across the state are energized and mobilizing to flip Florida blue. After nearly 20 years of harmful GOP policies, voters are ready for a better deal.

The Florida Democratic Party joined progressive partners like the FDLCC, unions on a community engagement effort that sets a new standard for our Party. We actively engaged both the Latino and African American communities of SD40 in neighbor-to-neighbor conversations focused on the issues that matter most. This victory is the first of many, as we are poised to claim the governorship, we are prepared to re-elect Senator Bill Nelson, and we are within striking distance of reaching parity in the upper chamber of the state legislature.

The FDP has made significant strides in building long-term political and grassroots infrastructure that will help Democrats win critical seats at the local, state, and federal level. We are organizing year-round and we will be engaging in neighbor-to-neighbor conversations in every one of our 67 counties to turn Florida blue in 2018 and beyond.”

In a statement released at 8:40 p.m., Taddeo said it was a victory for the residents of Senate District 40, who live in Westchester, Kendall and South Dade.

 “The voters wanted a champion in Tallahassee who will fight for higher paying jobs, affordable healthcare and fully funded public schools and I am honored and humbled that they have placed their faith and trust in me. I pledge to work everyday for the families of my community and not the special interests. I would like to thank my opponent for running in a hard-fought race. Our campaign saw a strong coalition come together between the FDP, the FDLCC, labor and community organizations who unified behind a winning plan. I’m beyond thankful for all the work and their efforts and the the thousands of volunteers who committed their time, energy and resources. This was a community, grassroots driven effort and I am ready to continue the work in our state capitol.”

It was also an early voting and Election Day effort. Because Pepi Diaz — who looks optimistic in this photo with poll workers at 8:30 Tuesday morning — won the absentee ballot race by nearly 2,200 votes. It must have been a terrible tease for Diaz because Taddeo later got more than twice as many votes in early voting and made up those 2,200 votes plus a few more on Tuesday.

I have to say, while I don’t love either candidate, Ladra feels a breeze of justice going through her soul because Pepi Diaz was acting like a real piece of, er, work. He was all over social media, at the podium next to the mayor, during the preparations and warnings for Hurricane Irma and afterwards, he had a TV commercial where he said “as a state rep I will be knocking on doors” to see what people needed after the storm. Seriously? He was no longer a state rep but he was sure acting like one and he sure had the access of one. Then there was that other ugly TV commrcial where David Lawrence brags about how Pepi helped 20,000 “perfectly legal” immigrant children. Ouch. Ladra sure hopes The Children’s Trust that Lawrence doesn’t check kids’ papers before helping the neediest children in our community. That’s not what I voted for.

But if Ladra feels a breeze, Taddeo must feel a hurricane of vindication. After all, she has campaigned for about a decade and has a relentless drive to be in elected office (read: watch her like a hawk). Taddeo, who also served as chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, first ran for Congress against U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in 2008. She then made unsuccessful bids for county commission (2010), lieutenant governor with former Gov. Charie Christ (2014), and Congress again but this time against former Congressman Joe Garcia (2016) — maybe now they can be friends again — who lost anyway and again to U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo.

Guess the fifth time (not countying the Florida Dem chair race) is the charm.

And Ladra is fairly certain that will be the final tally, despite threats from some voter rights groups to challenge the special election after Gov. Rick Scott refused to delay it to accomodate voters inconvenienced by Hurricane Irma,

That’s because those groups — Common Cause Florida, State Voices Florida, the League of Women Voters Florida, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, Engage Miami, SAVE, LatinoJustice and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law — can arguably be lumped together under the blue umbrella. They were likely afraid that Diaz would benefit from a low turnout. How much you wanna bet there’s no challenge from them now that Taddeo has won?

Unless they challenge on behalf of Democrat Gabriela Mayaudón, who lost Tuesday in the House District 116 race to Republican Daniel Perez, for the seat vacated by Diaz when he resigned to run for Senate. But that would be ridiculous since Mayaudón is really only a Democrat on paper. Let her run a few times before you run to her defense, huh?

On the GOP side, it seems that at least Diaz — who some say is looking at the Attorney General seat — took the loss like a trooper, tweeting his kudos to Taddeo just after 10 p.m.

“Congratulations to Florida’s newest State Senator Annette Taddeo. I wish you nothing but success in your new role,” he said.

What a difference a few hours makes.