Al Cardenas, the former chair of the Florida Republican Party, says he would vote for Kamala Harris for president on November 5. Cardenas spoke on Telemundo 51’s Gloria Ordaz with Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party and former commissioner of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
He stated that his decision to support Harris was about uniting the United States. “We’re probably on the verge of an imminent civil war,” he informed me. “You know, with the former prosecutor, she respects the law, she respects the Constitution, she has a very cheerful personality, and she is committed to trying to unite the country as much as possible. Donald Trump’s entire ideology is based on hatred and separation, and he believes that power comes from convincing people to favor him over others domestically in America, which is a very hazardous thing to do. The country cannot function well if divided in this way.”
He went on to clarify: “And I thought that this was one election where, you know, looking at the larger context of making America strong, bringing us back together, being more civilized on how I look at politics is more important than political positions nor anything else, and so I took that very unusual step to take a step aside from my party’s decision to support Donald Trump and support her.”
Cardenas claimed that he had spoken to Harris “a few times” but has “come to think that she means to have an inclusive government when she gets elected, and I believe that she has an attitude and the personality to lower tensions in America, where at this point there’s just too much of it.”
The former GOP chairman also said he voted for Harris to safeguard democracy. “We have mass assassinations. We have Donald Trump and some of his supporters attempting to bring violence into the process, as we did on January 6. To this day, Donald Trump claims that the 2020 election was hijacked.
So, how can you retain a democracy if you don’t believe in the integrity of elections? He claims that the insurrection occurred on January 6. Private citizens are invading our capital. “He called it a celebration,” he explained. “You know, views like that pull down the country and undermine all we stand for. As I’ve previously stated, the entire world looks at America through the eyes of the person in the White House, and that represents our values, moral compass, and who we are as a nation. And having him in the White House will cause complete disarray in the eyes of the world on what they should do in terms of alliances and so on.”
