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Scott Promises To Fix Washington, Practices His Spanish In Hialeah

Florida Governor Rick Scott made his first South Florida campaign stop on Tuesday, talking to Hialeah audiences about his plans to create more jobs and fix Washington D.C. 

Building on his job creation platform as governor, Scott’s main message for his U.S. Senate bid against incumbent Bill Nelson is a position against “career politicians.”

“Both parties are to blame; Washington is not working. If you want change, do you send career politicians, a bunch of politicians? No. We’ve got to have term limits on career politicians in D.C., ” said Scott to a group of his followers gathered at Interstate Beverage Corporation in Hialeah, owned by a Colombian-American couple, Alvaro and Betty Lozano.

Colombian American Fabio Andrade attended the rally. An activist as well as a small business owner, he said he favored the governor’s commitment to the people over partisanship.

“He has not been a governor for the Republicans. He has not been a governor for special interests. He has been a governor for everybody in the state of Florida," said Andrade. "He will come across party lines and talk to every community.”

Cuban-born Martha Madrigal on the other hand, looked forward to Governor Scott working closely with President Trump. 

“The most important thing is, he wants to keep all the good jobs, creating in Washington an ambience to work jointly with President Trump, not against him,” said Madrigal. 

Elected officials attending the event included Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández and Republican state Senator René García. Most of the attendees were Scott supporters.

Gov. Scott also said some words in Spanish to eulogize Jereima Bustamante, an aid to his campaign that died on Sunday on a boating accident in the Florida Keys. He said she helped him to learn the language.

“Jeri Bustamante fue una persona muy especial. Es una buena amiga [Jeri Bustamante was a very special person. She's a good friend],” said Scott. “Mi esposa y yo estamos muy tristes [My wife and I are very sad].”

Miami Herald Reporter David Smiley contributed to this report. 

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