Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 8-24-18

Feature
Candidates Share Lessons Learned At Kennedy-King Dinner
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
The primary is less than two weeks away and the push is on for Democrats to turn out the vote and turn the state blue.
Democrats need to send a “clear message that we are fed up,” keynote speaker Charlie Rodriguez told more than 700 of the party’s faithful and supporters Sat- urday at the annual Kennedy King dinner hosted by the Hillsborough County Demo- cratic Executive Committee.
“The best way to change this is through the ballot box this November,” he said.
The Affordable Care Act, a fair tax bill, and Sen. Bill Nelson’s re-election are all on the line this fall, said Ro- driguez, chair of the Puerto Rico Democratic Party and a former president of the Puerto Rico Senate.
Protecting Democratic interests requires more than
ANDREW GILLUM
just being angry – it requires voting in a Legislature dom- inated by Democrats as well as a Democratic governor, he said.
“Let’s get mad, but let’s do something better,” he said. “Let’s elect a true De- mocrat to bring change to this state.”
Dozens of candidates for local and state races packed the banquet hall at the Downtown Tampa Hilton, including gubernatorial can-
PHILIP LEVINE
didates Andrew Gillum and Philip Levine.
Other candidates for gov- ernor – Gwen Graham, Jeff Greene, and Chris King – sent greetings via video.
Both Gillum and Levine addressed the crowd and delivered remarks that referenced the dinner’s theme of acknowledging the 50th year of the deaths of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F.
Kennedy.
Levine, the former
mayor of Miami Beach, in- voked King’s message from “A Letter From A Birming- ham Jail,” saying that “today, Democrats, the time to do what is right is upon all of us.”
Whomever Florida votes into the governor’s office in November is the direction the presidential election will go in 2020, making the Sun- shine State “the last line of defense against Donald Trump.”
“The whole world is going to see what Florida does this year,” he said. “We’re going to do it by showing the country and state that the Democratic Party is about moving for- ward.”
Gillum, Tallahassee’s
mayor, said he learned two lesson from both Kennedy and King, namely that “we’ve got to demand more, we’ve got to request more.”
Democrats must be ur- gent about protecting women’s reproductive health, electing leaders who treat all people fairly, and eradicating the “stand your ground” law, he said.
“The time for comfort and convenience is out,” he said. “We have to be urgent about flipping this state blue in 2018 and the nation blue in 2020.”
Florida Primary Election
Early voting ends Sun- day, Aug. 26. Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 28. To locate your polling place, visit www.votehillsborough.org.
PAGE 2-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018