Annette Taddeo, a Miami Democrat and small business owner, is running for Florida chief financial officer against Republican Blaise Ingoglia in the Nov. 3 general election.

Taddeo won the Democratic primary on Aug. 18, defeating Earle Ford, according to Florida Politics. Asked in our candidate questionnaire why she is running, Taddeo said: "I am running for Chief Financial Officer because 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."

She added: "Florida needs a CFO who is a watchdog, not a lapdog."

Candidate information

Party: Democrat

Family: Taddeo said in our questionnaire: "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."

Background: Taddeo was born on April 7, 1967, in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, to an Italian-American father and a Colombian mother, according to Wikipedia. She said in our questionnaire: "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."

Education: Taddeo said in our questionnaire: "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."

Experience and public service

Taddeo said in our questionnaire: "For more than 30 years, I have run LanguageSpeak, a Florida language services company, creating jobs and meeting a payroll." 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.

On her political career, 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 …"

On the issues

Insurance: Asked what she would do about property 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."

Transparency: Asked about a specific change she would make, Taddeo said in our questionnaire: "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."

Accomplishments: Taddeo said in our questionnaire: "… I helped bring to justice one of the largest HOA frauds in American history, at the Hammocks in my district. I spent years helping homeowners gather records and find the courage to go to the State Attorney … The result: guilty pleas in an $11 million theft and a new state law for homeowners."

Endorsements: The list is long. Taddeo has received endorsements from Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, the AFL-CIO, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joint Council 75, SEIU Florida, Equality Florida Action PAC, the United Teachers of Dade and the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, according to Florida Politics and BallotReady.