Part of former Florida Republican governor (and current Democratic candidate for the same gig) Charlie Crist’s unctuous appeal has always been his chameleon-like ability to mold himself to the audience and the moment in a pleasant, non-offensive way. You could never quite put your finger on why you didn’t like the guy since he was always so affable, regardless of the crowd. In a night and day contrast, his running mate Karla Hernandez, president of United Teachers of Dade (the largest teachers union in the southeastern United States), doesn’t seem to have as deft or natural a touch when it comes to real vice union politics. She appears to have been chosen purely as a craven bid to bring teachers on board the Crist train and is a combative train wreck in her own right.

For instance, when DeSantis – and parents – were fighting to get Florida schools completely reopened in the face of fierce opposition from the federal government and teachers’ unions, Karla Hernandez thought this terrific stunt would help the teachers’ “stay home” cause.

Reminder that in 2020, @CharlieCrist’s new expected running mate Karla Hernandez-Mats, the president of the Miami teachers union, set up a protest to keep schools closed. She brought hearses outside of a school board meeting, insinuating kids would die if schools were opened up. pic.twitter.com/W7zqqCGxvM

— Will Witt (@thewillwitt) August 26, 2022

Charming, no?

…Ms. Hernández-Mats, who is also a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, opposed reopening Florida public schools. In September 2020, the UTD organized a caravan, including a hearse, to protest reopening schools outside the Miami-Dade County School Board headquarters. Ms. Hernández-Mats insisted that “lives are going to be lost” if Miami schools reopened. Florida’s schools reopened in 2020, but in 2021 the AFT successfully lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to tighten school-reopening guidelines, which kept schools elsewhere closed longer.

While she might not have been able to stop Florida kids from going back to school, she sure did her level best to put a roadblock in other children’s returning across the country. Man. She sounds terrific. Then there was this a couple of weeks ago. I’m not sure if it was Hernandez’s idea or a too clever staff member, but she went with a crack about Gov DeSantis touring Ian damage in white ag worker/fisher folk boots (background on that sad hit here)…

While some wear white rain boots to disrupt Hurricane recovery efforts, I’m not afraid to step up and actually help our communities. pic.twitter.com/sHje6ETY6G

— Karla Hernández (@KarlaforFlorida) October 12, 2022

…as she “construction works” in an all-white outfit, with long, flowing hair (while using a drill, no less), bangle bracelets, rings – every OSHA nightmare ever. But “white boots,” haha! So. Weak. Also as real as the last LatinX in white who staged a photo op.

Never let it be said that a teacher aka union hack doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

In Florida, we say GAY! 🏳️‍🌈 pic.twitter.com/Iu1qEluX9T

— Karla Hernández (@KarlaforFlorida) October 15, 2022

Or always tells the whole story.

Florida Democrat Crist’s Campaign Continues Misleading Public About Parental Rights’ Law

Every other tweet is about abortion, and I know that’s not where the majority of Florida voters’ heads are right now. As with the rest of the country, we’re all about inflation – gas, food, natural gas, and electricity – all about schools being for education, not grooming, and parents retaining their natural rights over their children, even while they’re at school. I’m not sure if Ms Hernandez and Icky Charlie have been paying attention, but schoolboards in Florida (especially the south, where they both are from) are ill-disposed to Crist/Hernandez-type rhetoric at present. Matter of fact, as of late August…

Multiple school boards across the state of Florida flipped conservative on Tuesday thanks to a groundswell of parental rights activism and GOP turnout.

Five school boards in Clay, Miami Dade, Duval, Sarasota, and Martin counties are now Republican-dominated. Miami’s takeover is especially notable as it became the largest county in America with a conservative school-board majority.

These races had the backing of 1776 Project Pac, a super pac that says it is “dedicated to electing school board members committed to abolishing CRT from the public school curriculum.”

Out of the 49 candidates that the organization endorsed in Florida school-board contests, 35 won their elections, founder Ryan Girdusky told National Review.

Last month?

On Wednesday, the Miami-Dade school board overwhelmingly voted against recognizing the month of October as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History month, including a measure to teach 12th graders about two Supreme Court cases affecting the LGBTQ community, WFLA reported.

The vote was preceded by a debate where students, parents and teachers voiced their opinions on the matter. The school board then voted 8 to 1 to reject making October LGBTQ+ month. One school board member, Lubby Navarro, stated:

“Our customers are our parents, and we have to be driven to give parents what they are asking us, this school system, for their children.”

Talk about READ THE ROOM! She can’t. She just can’t. Hernandez really isn’t into parents and hasn’t been from way back.

Hernandez’s whole timeline, appearances, and speaking engagements – Crist’s, too for the most part – are predominantly abortion, pride events, decriminalization of marijuana, freeing the schools (?), and LGBwhatever alphabet soup+ support. She’s vehemently anti-school choice. That resonates with her demographic, and that’s about it. As the WSJ said when Crist chose her:

…What could Mr. Crist have been thinking when he selected Ms. Hernández-Mats? Surely not that she would help him to victory.

It really makes you think Crist was on to something when he shot his mouth off the very first day of his gubernatorial campaign.

Charlie Crist kicks off his first day as Florida's Democrat gubernatorial nominee by accusing Floridians of having hate in our hearts.

Where have we heard this before? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/6MLIQZMwPD

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 #FloridaStrong (@DeSantisWarRoom) August 24, 2022

Alrighty, then. Charlie Crist is going to get what he asked for. He and Miss Personality aren’t going to get squat.