Florida Republicans claimed victory across a multitude of races up and down the ballot Tuesday, with all school board candidates backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis winning election bids with sweeping success.
Cindy Spray, who won her race in Manatee County, and Jackie Rosario, who won her race in Indian River County, joined “Fox & Friends” Thursday to discuss the impact of the DeSantis endorsement and how it resonated with their constituents.
“The support I got from Governor DeSantis is what put us over the edge,” Spray told co-host Ainsley Earhardt. “His view of how we need to stay back to the basics of education aligned with what I had viewed. And of course, my grandchildren. You have kids in school, you want to make sure that we’re getting the education system that we’re actually expecting from the public schools back to the basics and… supporting parental rights.”
“It was tremendous and quite humbling to get that kind of an endorsement from somebody… America’s governor,” she continued. “And it just put us over the edge, and I just think… we’re going to do the right thing and give the parent choice that they want and just continue to run on his platform, work on his platform after we are sworn in.”
FLORIDA’S MIAMI-DADE COUNTY TURNS RED FOR DESANTIS: FIRST GOP GOV TO WIN IN TWO DECADES
DeSantis, who decidedly won his gubernatorial race against Democrat opponent Charlie Crist, endorsed six conservative school board candidates across the state for the midterm elections.
Parental rights in the classroom have been a hot topic for parents nationwide, particularly in Florida, as they push for more influence in their kids’ classrooms.
DeSantis has been seen as an advocate for those parents, signing the Parental Rights in Education Act earlier this year, which prohibits teachers from discussing gender identity with children younger than third grade.
“It’s exciting, I’m happy, I’m elated, I’m glad it’s over,” Rosario said. “It’s been a long run. I have been campaigning since January and I have hit some obstacles along the way, some naysayers that just want to lie and twist any kind of narrative just so that they can… be the opponents to the issues at hand, but I’m glad we have prevailed.”
“We won the race,” she continued. “Governor DeSantis’ education plan aligns with the work that I had been doing all along on the school board, so it makes sense to endorse me, and I’m grateful for his endorsement, and I’m just happy that we won.”
Sen. Marco Rubio also won his re-election bid, keeping a Senate seat held since 2011. Rubio defeated Democrat opponent Rep. Val Demings by significant margins, despite being widely outspent.
Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier called Florida’s red shift a “huge story” for the Republican Party following Tuesday’s results after heavily-populated and diverse Miami-Dade County, which President Biden took by seven points in 2020, supported DeSantis and Rubio.
