The inauguration events of the new governor of Florida, the Republican Ron DeSantis, began this Monday with a tribute to Jeanette Núñez, who will be the first Latina deputy governor of Florida, and other women who will occupy positions of leadership in the new administration.
DeSantis and Núñez will be sworn in on Tuesday at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, the state capital, replacing Rick Scott and the Hispanic Carlos López-Cantera, respectively.
Nunez, outgoing congressman in the Florida Legislature, was accompanied by incoming first lady Casey DeSantis, as well as Helen Aguirre Ferre, who will take over as communications director of the new Florida government.
Ferré was until 2018 a press advisor for Hispanic affairs of President Donald Trump, who in the Republican primaries offered his support to the Republican DeSantis, assiduous defender of the president in the conservative Fox channel.
Casey DeSantis said during the recognition in Tallahassee of a hundred women who helped in the election of her husband, that they were a “key component” in the campaign.
“We had, in fact, more women than men working in this campaign, working in leadership roles and I think that really says a lot,” said Casey DeSantis.
Her husband will receive an administration on Tuesday with more than 70 new board and committee appointments made last Friday by the outgoing governor, also Republican Scott, an unusual move in government changes.
Born in Miami to Cuban parents, Núñez told the press that the new administration will “analyze” these appointments, but that they did not have a “definitive plan.”
Likewise, the Democrat Nikki Fried, commissioner-elect of Agriculture, Ashley Moody, elected fiscal of Florida, and Marva Johnson, president of the Board of Education of the state, attended the tribute in Tallahassee today.
Núñez will become the highest-ranking Hispanic woman to be elected in the history of Florida and the second woman to hold that position in the history of the state.
The Cuban-American said that it will help the Republican to become familiar with the legislative process in Florida.
“I think that, given my experience as a legislator, I will certainly be involved in closing the gap with the legislative process,” he told reporters.
López-Cantera, the outgoing lieutenant governor, recently said in an interview with Efe that Núñez will work “tirelessly” to meet DeSantis’s agenda of boosting economic growth, reduce taxes and eliminate regulations that make the work of small businesses “more difficult” .
Former federal congressman Ron DeSantis will be sworn in this Tuesday as Florida’s 46th governor during a ceremony at the Capitol in Tallahassee.
The Republican, a veteran of Iraq, announced today that the Inaugural Committee of 2019 will donate $ 150,000 to Operation 300, a non-profit organization that provides assistance to military families who have lost loved ones in combat.
“Thanks to our dedicated Inaugural Committee and sponsors, Operation 300 will be able to continue its mission to honor the memory of our fallen heroes and to brighten the lives of those who have left behind,” the Republican said.
