State Sen. Dwight Bullard, candidate for Senate District 40, had a November surprise of his own -- of the exceedingly pleasant variety.
Former state Rep. and School Board member Ana Rivas Logan gave Bullard her endorsement Friday, calling him “an honorable man who has served our community with distinction both as a school teacher and a state legislator.”
Rivas Logan had challenged Bullard in the SD 40 Democratic primary and had said she wasn't sure if she would endorse in the general election. But the “unfair attacks” from Bullard’s opponent, Republican Rep. Frank Artiles, changed her mind.
Said Rivas Logan, “I could no longer sit on the sideline and watch Artiles’ negative, dishonest campaign. He went so far as to call Dwight a terrorist. It’s ridiculous. When you see something like that, something completely unjust, you have to call it out.”
In addition to endorsing Bullard, Rivas Logan issued a robocall and will also be campaigning for him in the final days of the election. “This election is too important. Artiles has shown himself as unfit to serve in the state Senate. We need to re-elect Dwight Bullard and I plan on doing my part to make sure that happens,” Rivas Logan said.
Getting the support of Rivas Logan -- a "name" personality who can lure Hispanic voters -- is regarded among political observers as a major coup for Bullard.
Artiles has been painting Bullard as anti-semitic and pro-terrorism in campaign ads blanketing the airwaves.
In May Bullard, a high school teacher, took a learning trip to the Middle East with members of the Dream Defenders, a group affiliated with Black Lives Matter. The tour guide on the trip, it turned out, was affiliated with the anti-Israel BDS movement, a pro-Palestinian group linked with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Bullard said he didn't discover the guide's connection to terrorism until he got home.
Last month The Miami Herald debunked Artiles' Spanish-language TV ad and other campaign materials which the newspaper said falsely told central Miami-Dade County voters his opponent “voted to release violent criminals and sexual delinquents in our community.”
In August Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano used a political action committee he controls called Innovate Florida to drop $150,000 into SD 40, hoping to knock Bullard out in November. Galvano’s donation went to a political committee controlled by Artiles called Veterans for Common Sense Principles. It was far and away the single largest donation Artiles collected.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
