Annette Taddeo, a Miami Democrat and former state senator, is running for Florida chief financial officer in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election against Republican Blaise Ingoglia.

Asked why she is running, Taddeo said in our candidate questionnaire: "Florida families are paying more for everything while Tallahassee looks the other way. As a small business owner and a mother, I pay Florida's rising costs too. Homeowners are being crushed by the highest insurance rates in the nation, while insiders get billion-dollar no-bid contracts that have never been audited."

Taddeo won the Democratic primary on Aug. 18, defeating Earle Ford, according to Florida Politics.

Candidate information

Party: Democrat

Family: "When I was 17, my father, an American fighter pilot, was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas in Colombia. That experience brought me to the United States. I moved to Florida in 1992, built my business here, and raised my family. My husband, Eric, and I live in Miami with my mom, Elizabeth, and our dogs, Snow and Mocha. Our daughter, Sofia, is away at university in Boston."

Education: "I worked as a waitress to put myself through the University of North Alabama, where I earned a Bachelor's Degree in Commercial Spanish/Business Administration. I later earned two executive education scholarships to the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business, where I completed an Executive Education program and an Advanced Executive Education program."

Occupation: "I am a small business owner. For more than 30 years, I have run LanguageSpeak, a Florida language services company, creating jobs and meeting a payroll."

Taddeo founded LanguageSpeak in 1995. The company was recognized as one of Florida's top 100 small businesses and one of the nation's top 500 small businesses, according to Sparker's Soapbox.

Experience and public service

Taddeo said in our questionnaire: "I was elected to the Florida Senate in a 2017 special election, flipping a Republican-held seat, and was reelected to a full four-year term in 2018 by six points. I was the first Latina Democrat ever elected to the Florida Senate. I served five years on the Banking and Insurance Committee, where I fought for the state to fund a study of the 'affiliate' companies insurers use to move profits, and fought the insurance bailout bills."

She served as state senator for District 40 from 2017 to 2024 and chaired the Miami-Dade Democratic Party in 2012. In 2014, she was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor on the Charlie Crist ticket.

On the issues

Property insurance: Asked what she would do about insurance costs, Taddeo said in our questionnaire: "I will publish a report card grading every insurance company within my first 100 days: how fast it pays claims, how often it delays or denies, how much of your premium goes to its own affiliates, and how financially sound it is. Every company, by name."

She added: "After a hurricane, I will send storm strike teams from my department into hit communities within 3 to 5 days to help families push stalled claims."

Government transparency: Asked about a specific change she would make, Taddeo said: "Every state contract posted in the public FACTS database, as Florida law already requires. No exceptions, no hiding. FACTS is run by the CFO's own department, yet hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency contracts, including no-bid deals, are still missing from it."

She said she would "audit emergency spending starting with the $1.2 billion spent on Alligator Alcatraz, publish what I find in plain language, and refer fraud or abuse for prosecution."

Differences from opponent: Taddeo said in our questionnaire: "My opponent was appointed and has never been elected to this office. He has taken a quarter million dollars from insurance interests and voted for a $3 billion tax handout to insurance companies while Floridians pay the highest rates in the nation."

Key endorsements, as claimed by the endorsers: Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joint Council 75, AFL-CIO, Equality Florida Action PAC, Ruth's List Florida and the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.