Florida’s First Lady is appealing to a younger crowd of Republicans to encourage them to help get the vote out for her husband’s re-election bid. Ann Scott stumped for her husband on Florida State University’s campus Wednesday.
“It is now my great honor and privilege to introduce to you the First Lady and wife to our current and next Governor of the state of Florida, Ann Scott,” introduced Capital Young Republican President Celia Bass.
After she was introduced by Bass, a crowd of more than 30 members of the Capital Young Republicans and the Tallahassee Republican Club welcomed the First Lady.
Before making her official remarks, Mrs. Scott took pictures and briefly chatted with the group.
After, she talked about her efforts as First Lady, including her “Just Read” campaign, where she toured all 67 counties encouraging kids to read.
She also spoke about another of her missions: making sure foster kids in Florida are adopted. The First Lady says her first time getting to a chance to speak to these kids was when Governor Rick Scott first took office, and she was working on the poster for her literacy campaign. She says since then, she’s really taken to these foster kids.
“One of my favorite things to do as First Lady is to spend time with these amazing children,” said Ann Scott. “They’ve invited me into their homes to share their stories with me. I’ve invited them to the mansion to spend time with me. I’ll give them a tour on the public side and invite them to have dinner with me on the private side to talk about their day: ‘What was the worst part of your day? What was the best part about your day? What are your hopes and dreams? What do you want to be when you grow up?’”
Later, she spoke to the young Republicans about what they can do to help get her husband re-elected, starting off with one of the Governor’s favorite topics: jobs.
“First, share the Florida turnaround story with your family and friends. In the four years before Rick became Governor, our state had lost over 832,000 jobs, and under Rick’s leadership, Florida businesses have added over 620,000 jobs. And, I don’t know if ya’ll remember, or not, Rick’s campaign slogan: seven steps to 700,000 jobs in seven years. But, at the rate we’re going, we might make the 700,000 within his first term, so keep your fingers crossed,” she told the crowd as they laughed.
The Republicans also heard from Chris Emmanuel, who works on the Scott campaign. He talked to the group Wednesday about ways they could get involved, following Ann Scott’s remarks.
“This election is going to be about turnout. If you have friends and family who are considering not voting, we’d like you to talk to them about what this Governor has done and what the previous Governor has done, and we think the choice is pretty clear,” said Emmanuel.
And, former Tallahassee Mayoral Candidate Zack Richardson, who came to the event, says he was very receptive to the First Lady’s overall remarks. The 43-year-old says he’s a registered Democrat with conservative principles.
“I came out just to look at what is happening, the dynamics, and try to educate people on what it means to be a conservative,” said Richardson. “I think she did an excellent job. I think something that touched my heart was the fact that growing up as a foster kid and to actually know and see the type of work that she’s willing to take that risk and do things that most will not do and that’s to engage our foster kids because I’m a foster child. And, so, that kind of made me feel good.”
During the November 4th general election, Governor Rick Scott will face off against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and Libertarian Candidate Adrian Wyllie.
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