Annette Taddeo is in and the Florida CFO race just got a lot more interesting

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Qualifying week has begun, and after weeks of speculation, former State Senator Annette Taddeo officially announced Monday that she is running for Florida Chief Financial Officer, confirming what Political Cortadito suspected all along: she wasn’t looking at the suddenly vacant Senate seat.

She was looking at something much bigger.

While Miami-Dade politicians have spent the last several months playing musical chairs with legislative seats, commission races and congressional ambitions, Taddeo apparently had her eyes on a statewide office that offers something local races never could — a platform to hammer Republicans on perhaps Florida’s most painful issue: Insurance.

In announcing her campaign, Taddeo went straight for the political jugular.

Read related: Looks like Annette Taddeo is running for something after all — Florida CFO

“Florida families are getting crushed. Your homeowner’s insurance bill doubled. Then tripled. And the politicians in Tallahassee? They turned a blind eye — or made it worse,” Taddeo said in a two-minute video announcing the launch of her campaign.

“I’ve spent my career fighting the establishment when it wasn’t easy and standing up to the powerful when it wasn’t popular,” she says.

“Florida families deserve a CFO who works for you — not the insurance companies, not the insiders, not the status quo.”

It’s a message that practically writes itself.

Every Floridian has an insurance horror story. Some have two.

The CFO’s office oversees insurance regulation, consumer services and serves as one of the state’s top financial watchdog positions, making it a natural place for a candidate looking to make affordability, accountability and government oversight the centerpiece of a statewide campaign.

And unlike some Democrats who seem allergic to talking about kitchen-table issues, Taddeo is planting her flag directly in the middle of one that voters discuss every month when the bills arrive.

“The system is rigged,” she says. “And you’re paying for it. A million dollars a day from Florida’s emergency funds for Alligator Alcatraz. No-bid contracts. No audits. No accountability.”

She isn’t wrong. And she’s also plainly laying out what her campaign points are going to be.

The move also means she is bypassing the increasingly crowded and unpredictable political food fights unfolding in Miami-Dade. Instead of brawling over a Senate district, or a congressional seat, she’s taking on the entire state.

Not exactly a small promotion.

And it’s not entirely a surprise. Ladra and other political observers predicted this last month when an independent Ruth’s List poll that put her two points ahead and called the race “hers to win.”

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Taddeo enters the race with perhaps the most compelling personal backstory of any Democrat currently seeking statewide office. Her campaign highlights her family’s flight from violence in Colombia after her father was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas, her success as a small-business owner and her history-making election as the first Latina Democrat elected to the Florida Senate.

“Florida gave me a future. Now I’m running for Florida’s Chief Financial Officer to fight for yours,” she says in the video, with clips of her holding a plane like the one her American fighter pilot father flew.

Of course, none of that guarantees victory.

Florida remains a Republican-leaning state, and statewide Democrats have developed an unfortunate habit of looking competitive until Election Day arrives.

But Taddeo has never been particularly interested in waiting for perfect political conditions. No story about Annette Taddeo would be complete without mentioning that she may be the most persistent candidate in Florida politics not named Charlie Crist, who, by the way, she once ran alongside with.

Over the years, Taddeo has run for Miami-Dade Commission, Congress, Lieutenant Governor, State Senate, Congress again, Governor, state Democratic Party chair and now CFO. To her critics, that’s evidence that she is perpetually searching for her next office. To her supporters, it’s evidence that she is willing to keep getting back up after losing races that would have sent most politicians into retirement or lobbying.

The truth is probably somewhere in between. Taddeo has never been shy about seeking higher office, but unlike many perennial candidates, she actually has a victory on her résumé. She flipped a Republican-held Senate seat in 2017 when many thought it couldn’t be done and built a reputation as a workhorse legislator willing to tackle issues ranging from unemployment failures to small-business concerns. Whether voters see her as a genuine public servant or simply a politician who is always running for something may ultimately depend on whether they view her repeated campaigns as ambition in service of a cause or ambition for its own sake.

Read related: Tallahassee just put property taxes on the chopping block in November

What nobody can dispute is that Taddeo keeps showing up. In a political era where many candidates disappear after a single defeat, she has made a career out of refusing to leave the field. The question Florida voters will now have to answer is whether that persistence is one of her greatest strengths or merely proof that she likes seeing her name on a ballot.

The bigger question may be what happens to the rest of the Democratic field.

For months, ambitious Democrats have been studying open seats, retirement rumors and potential appointments while trying to figure out where the opportunities might emerge. Taddeo just answered that question for herself. She found one. It’s 67 counties wide.

And somewhere in Tallahassee, Republicans who hoped the insurance crisis would quietly stop being a political issue before November are probably having a very bad morning.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the 305, Miami-Dade’s political class is left watching yet another familiar face leave the local chessboard.

Not because she ran out of moves. Because she decided to play a different game.

This kind of independent, government watchdog reporting is crucial to transparency and democracy. And more so every day. Help shine a light on the darker corners of our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.