Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera wooed voters in The Villages on Wednesday in his bid for the U.S. Senate.
The GOP candidate was the guest of honor at a luncheon sponsored by the Sumter County Chamber of Commerce at Sumter Grand independent living on County Road 466A.
Plenty of well-known local figures were at the event, including state Rep. Marlene O’Toole, Sumter County Chamber of Commerce President Bill Keen and Wildwood Mayor Ed Wolf.
Many GOP leaders have been encouraging U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to get into the race for the seat he now holds, even after he said he would not do so.
Before the speech, Lopez-Cantera was asked by Villages-News.com about the possibility of receiving an endorsement from Rubio. Neither confirming nor denying the possibility, Lopez-Cantera simply called Rubio “supportive” and said he was grateful and “glad for his help.” Rubio will headline an event for Lopez-Cantera later this month. You can read more about that HERE
O’Toole provided the opening introduction by briefing the audience with a biography of the former Miami-Dade County property appraiser. The Villages Republican was among the first to endorse Lopez-Cantera for U.S. Senate. You can read about her endorsement HERE
The lieutenant governor then began his speech, describing Florida’s economic comeback in the wake of the Great Recession.
“Florida was one of the hardest hit states,” Lopez-Cantera said. Despite the hardships and recession’s negative impacts, Lopez-Cantera said that the government managed to improve the state in several aspects.
The unemployment rate, for example, was once at an alarming rate of 11 percent during the recession, but has significantly decreased thanks to the efforts of the administration of Gov. Rick Scott.
Lopez-Cantera said that as a government, “we did the tough things,” which produced positive outcomes such as producing more jobs and making smart investments.
Meanwhile, 600,000 people chose to move to Florida in the past two years. Florida has replaced New York as the third most populous state in the nation. He said many people are leaving states up north due to high taxes.
He then explained that lower revenue comes from lowering taxes, but having more taxpayers enlarges the coffers.
Hoping to advance to the general election, Lopez-Cantera will face fellow Republicans Congressman Ron DeSantis, Todd Wilcox, Congressman David Jolly and Carlos Beruff in the Aug. 30 primary.
