Annette Joanne Taddeo-Goldstein (née Taddeo; born April 7, 1967) is a Colombian-American politician and businesswoman serving as a member of the Florida Senate from the 40th district. She was an unsuccessful candidate for several elections starting in 2008 and was Charlie Crist's running mate in the 2014 Florida gubernatorial election. She was formerly a Democratic candidate in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election, but withdrew to run for Congress in Florida's 27th congressional district to challenge incumbent María Elvira Salazar. Early life and education Taddeo was born in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, to an Italian-American father and Colombian mother. Her early life was spent in Colombia until she moved to live with family friends in Huntsville, Alabama, at the age of 17. She graduated from the University of North Alabama with a degree in commercial Spanish. Shortly after, she moved to Miami. In 1995, Taddeo started a translation business, now called LanguageSpeak. Career Taddeo entered politics in 2008 when she ran against Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for Florida's 18th Congressional District, which then included parts of coastal Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys. Taddeo was unopposed in the Democratic primary but lost to Ros-Lehtinen in the general election, 58 to 42%. Two years later, Taddeo ran for an open seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission. She placed third in the nonpartisan primary, garnering 21%. Taddeo remained active in local Democratic politics, and in December 2012 was elected chair of the county's Democratic Executive Committee. As county party chair, she organized support for successful Democratic candidates in Miami Beach, Homestead, and other local elections. She also led an effort for Democrats to compete in every local State House election in 2014. In the end, only two of the seats within the county lacked a Democratic candidate that year, the fewest since 1984. 2014 Florida gubernatorial election In July 2014, gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, who had previously served as governor as a Republican, named Taddeo as his running mate. The Crist-Taddeo ticket lost the general election to incumbent Republican Governor Rick Scott and Lieutenant Governor Carlos López-Cantera, 48.1 to 47.1%. 2016 congressional campaign Taddeo ran for Congress again in 2016, in the 26th district, based in southern Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys. She lost the Democratic primary to former Congressman Joe Garcia, 51.3 to 48.7%. Garcia went on to lose the general election to the incumbent, Republican Carlos Curbelo. During the campaign, some of Taddeo's secret campaign