Alex Andrade, State Representative, Florida House of Representatives
Contact Information for Rep. Andrade
Transcript
This is a transcript from The Floridaville podcast. This transcript was created using artificial
intelligence so it may not be an accurate account of what was recorded.
ROSANNA CATALANO
0:08
This is the Floridaville, Get to know the people behind the
Florida names you know, I'm your host Rosanna Catalano. On today's episode we
get to know Representative Alex Andrade.
Representative Andrade is an attorney from the panhandle of Florida,
where he was elected to office in 2018. He now serves on several committees in
the Florida Legislature and will participate in his second legislative session
as an elected official.
ROSANNA CATALANO
0:44
We are in Florida's capital city and our guest today is
representative Alex Andrade. Welcome to the show.
REP. ANDRADE
Thanks for having me.
ROSANNA CATALANO
You were first elected to the State House of Representatives
in 2018. Tell us who you represent.
REP. ANDRADE 0:56
I represent the district House District two So the western
most district It borders Alabama, it covers a South Escambia County, Pensacola
Gulf Breeze and the entire Pensacola and Perdido key.
ROSANNA CATALANO
1:09
Why did you decide to run for office?
REP. ANDRADE 1:13
I filed for office about a month after Frank White, who was
my predecessor decided to run for Attorney General. And I just, you know, I'm
going to kind of a romantic about why you should run and I just, you know, I
looked around the district, and I thought I was the best for the job.
ROSANNA CATALANO
1:30
Why do you think people should run?
REP. ANDRADE 1:33
It really, it comes down to if you look around your friends
and family, your community, and you feel that you're the best for the job, you
can have a responsibility to run. And I didn't come up with that. My buddy,
Anthony Sabatini. He's a freshman as well. We were talking to a group of
college students in an internship program here last session. You know, I kind
of encourage people to go be value add in their communities. I don't tell them
to run for office until never to think about running for office because I never
Thought about running for office. But Anthony came from a different
perspective. And it was, if you know you're the best for the job, you have a
responsibility to run if you actually care about your community.
ROSANNA CATALANO
2:10
I'm sure you received a lot of advice when she decided to
run for elected office. What was the best piece of advice you received?
REP. ANDRADE 2:17
Oh, man, that's a very good question. I would say probably
the best piece of advice about running for office, especially at you know, the
smaller level like you're at the state representative level, is your election
comes down to dollars and doors, you have to believe in yourself enough to
actually pull out your cell phone and go through your phone book and make an
ask if every single person even if you haven't spoken to them in you know, two
or three years. You have to believe in yourself enough to be willing to hear no
a lot to raise the money necessary especially in your first race. If you're an
unknown candidate like me. You just gotta you gotta actually fervently believe
that, you know, you're doing this for the right reasons and enough people are
going to, you know, support you and believe in you to help you get there?
Rosanna Catalano 3:01
Did you have to give yourself a lot of pep talks?
Alex Andrade 3:06
Now, I wouldn't say pep talks. There's a lot of anxiety. But
again, I mean people think that all campaigns are funded by big government or I
mean big, big businesses or interest groups, your first campaign, your very
first campaign whatever you're doing, it's really your friends and family. So
there is more probably just more anxiety in the fact that you know, my little
brother is a police officer up in Michigan they don't pay police officers very
well but he sent me the max contribution for at the state level, which is
thousand bucks and so when you get when you have close people who you know show
you that they believe in you, there's some anxiety that goes along with it and
you feel very responsible to do a good job because of being an elected
officials a full- time job and can consume your life and the lives of those
closest to you. How did you come to the decision that the time was right for
you to throw your hat in the ring?
Alex Andrade 4:00
It's funny that you call it a full time position because
it's supposed to not be and I do have a full time job, I'm practicing attorney.
But you know, you got to go back to your family. Right now. It's just me, my
wife and our dog dash, you go back, you talk to your family, you make sure that
everyone's committed and kind of understands what it's going to take, you know,
to serve and to actually go through the process of an election. And as long as
you're your wife, your kids, whoever, you know, you go home to every night are
okay with it, or willing to, you know, put up with it. That's, that's really
the first test.
Rosanna Catalano 4:32
Describe the moment on the campaign trail when you thought,
holy cow, I'm really doing this, I could win this.
Alex Andrade 4:39
So I had a unique race first.
Alex Andrade 4:42
So Northwest Florida only has seven state representatives
west of Tallahassee out of 120. So we're severely out number to be effective.
As a member of such a small delegation. You have to be really good team player.
And you kind of have to put you know, you you can't make Be a burden under
people. So I got in. And I worked very hard. I took a lot of people who were
talking about running for office to coffee. I said, This is my plan. This is
what I want to do. If you want to run against me go with God, you know, I won't
be hurt or offended, but I'd rather have you on my team. And my whole campaign
strategy, aside from raising as much money as possible was to just go get the
supportive people who at one point might have thought about running against me
or oppose me somehow. And I was lucky enough that the vast majority people I
took the coffee didn't run against me. They ended up supporting me after after
that coffee. I don't have an opponent until two days for qualifying in June,
and the election was in August. So my election was a little bit different in
that capacity. So for the majority of the time, I was running from October of
2017. until June of 2018. I didn't have an opponent, so everybody just kind of
figured I was the de facto nominee
Rosanna Catalano 5:54
For listeners that have never come to Tallahassee and
participated in a legislative session. Can you describe what it is like? To
come to Tallahassee as a legislator for the first time.
Unknown Speaker
6:03
Yeah,
Alex Andrade 6:04
one it's kind of to be on the floor for the first time to
have your your nameplate on a desk on the floor. It's kind of surreal. I would
say it's still a little surreal to come to Tallahassee, you know, drive. So
it's a four hour drive with the time change to Tallahassee, it's a two hour
drive back down to Pensacola with the time change to go down, I tend to kind of
have to, you know, put off the real world stuff that you're leaving behind in
Pensacola and kind of put on the role of the state representative. It is
surreal. You know, you get to play a small role in a very significant process,
you know, and you think about all the people that came before you and all the
significant things that they've done, the day to day can sometimes be a little
mundane meetings can sometimes feel purposeless, you spend a lot of time
sitting and waiting, but it's fast paced, and then it's dead silent. And then
it's the it's the process of you know, as conservative legislators, we're not
in the business of making new law necessarily. We try not to be but I mean, the
the process of running the 14th largest hurt by GDP, the 14th largest economy
in the world is it's incredible. It's Yeah, I mean, I I still sometimes just
can't understand why anybody you know, would allow me to be able to play play
such a cool role in this process.
Rosanna Catalano 7:14
Sometimes companies have an onboarding process for new
employees. Was there any kind of training for you as a new legislator?
Alex Andrade 7:21
House Majority and house administration might be a little
miffed when I say this, but for legislators themselves? No, not really. There.
There is some onboarding for staff and that's critical, you know, a lot of
staff members to staff your, as a state representative, you get the standard
one legislative aide, one district secretary, your legislative aide travels
with you to Tallahassee and works with the Intel hassey. And your district
Secretary usually stays home and is the main point of contact for constituent
issues and local government, local groups. There's great training and support
for staff, but as legislators, you know, your your job role and your you know
your responsibilities. It's kind dictated by your voters back home. So there's
there's somewhat of a trust that you come over here knowing what the job
entails, I guess. And there's somewhat of a difference in the fact that each
legislator has a different style. I mean, I would say, my, my daily activity
differs greatly to some other members because some of their members don't see
their role the same way that I see my role.
Rosanna Catalano 8:22
You are on a number of committees commerce, government
operations and technology Appropriations Subcommittee, health market reform
subcommittee, Criminal Justice subcommittee, and oversight, transparency and
public management subcommittee. Can you explain to our listeners how committee
assignments are made?
Alex Andrade 8:38
That's a great question. I'd like to actually ask people in
leadership committee assignments are made sometimes to see my first my first
session, I was on five committees. I kept three of those going to this session
I asked on to health marker reform, and I asked on a criminal justice. It's
really dictated by leadership, you know, the Speaker's office and who he
designates as his deputies. They make the determination and you're just kind of
grateful for whatever they give you. I mean, the committee's that I have are
incredible. I'm very fortunate to be in the silos that I'm in. Because
committees are broken down by silo, you know, you have the Commerce Committee,
and then I believe you have five subcommittees under it. And those five
subcommittees are just more specific versions of what commerce is. And then
they all kind of when you have a bill that's referred to committees. If it's a
commerce related bill, it'll start at least one or two those subcommittees
before it goes to the big Commerce Committee before it's ready to get heard on
the floor.
Rosanna Catalano 9:33
What experience in your life best helps you prepare for your
life as an elected official?
Alex Andrade 9:39
So that is a very good question, because, you know, there's
the technical preparation, right, so I was fortunate enough to do a fellowship
and Governor Scott's office called the gubernatorial fellowship. The program is
modeled after the White House fellowship. They brings grad students from around
the state to Tallahassee, I was the last you to my third year at USF at the
time It pays for that year of school. So I got to go and be a what's called a
visiting student at FSU. And then you work full time in a state agency. So I
got to go work for a non facade over at the Department of Transportation in the
executive office at D ot. And I just got this massive wealth of experience that
I think I was 2324 years old, you know, navigating the legislative process,
from the executive side, and learning how state agencies run. So that
definitely prepared me for the deep in depth, civic side of it. I would say you
also have the emotional component to it. And growing up, I had a lot of
humbling opportunities, and a lot of opportunities to always be reminded that
I'm very lucky and very blessed. So always remembering where you came from. And
always just remembering to be grateful is probably just as important as the
Civic side of understanding what the actual processes
Rosanna Catalano 1:00
Take us back way back and tell us where you were born and
raised and what your home life was like growing up.
Alex Andrade 11:05
I was born in the Cayman Islands. My dad is Jamaican,
monstrum, Alabama. So after they met and got married, instead of moving back to
Jamaica, they moved to the Cayman Islands, which is where my older brother
Colin and I were both born, our dad had a business in the Cayman Islands and
manufactured hurricane shutters and aluminum railing. But if you're not a
citizen of the island, you can't own your own business. So he was, I guess, a
little frustrated, you know, owning 49% of a company that he built from the
ground up, and we moved to South Florida when I was very young. Hurricane
Andrew happened, I think, maybe a year after we moved there, and all the codes
changed. And so hurricane shutters became a lot more necessary. Insurance
companies started requiring hurricane shutters on new construction. So we grew
up understanding how lucky we were one living United States a place that would
allow my dad owners in business, you know, to to live in the state of Florida,
which had this incredible economy. And, you know, we just were always raised
being reminded how lucky we were to live here and be here. I'm the middle son
of three. My little brother Barry was born in Coral Springs. And we lived in
Coral Springs growing up. But you know, we were all you know, focused on sports
and, you know, kind of just the way you imagined three boys would be interested
in and doing and my older brother is now a pastor and my little brother is now
like I said, a police officer up in Michigan and my mom's a teacher. She's a
public school teacher. She teaches math down in Deerfield Beach High School.
Rosanna Catalano 12:31
That is my alma mater. You're gonna be careful feet high
school globex How would you describe yourself as a child?
Alex Andrade 12:40
So when I was born in Cayman Islands, I was born four weeks
early in the cayman islands of time didn't have maybe the best medical staff or
technology. So my mom's water broke actually we poor I was born and because
they didn't have the capability to give birth. I guess or induce birth at five
weeks, they waited a week and because of that I suffered a lot of trauma. You
can develop cerebral palsy if you suffered traumatic birth, you know, I was
lucky and very, very fortunate, very blessed that when I was born, I was I was
I was bruised, that obviously suffered trauma was diagnosed with cerebral palsy
at a very young age. But I was very fortunate in the fact that it was a mild
case. You know, I got a lot of physical therapy growing up, you know, and
because of the physical therapy because of, you know, the attention because I
had two parents who both cared about me very much, you know, I was able to have
a very normal childhood focus on you know, playing football playing soccer, I
would say that, you know, school came pretty easy, but that also means
sometimes you can be a little intellectually lazy, you know, I'm probably
always gonna be a little self conscious about my work ethic. You know, I tend
to overcorrect. Probably because of it. But yeah, I mean, I love reading books.
I love learning. And you know, I love to you debating, I was a Presbyterian
Protestant kid going to a Catholic High School. So if you ask my theology
teachers in high school what I was like, that probably sounds a little
combative, but yeah, I mean, I just, you know, sweet, nice guy never really
gotten any fights or anything. And, you know, I just always kind of wanted to
make everybody happy.
Rosanna Catalano 14:19
I'm not sure I should admit, admit this. But in preparing
for your visit today, stalked you a bit online, I noticed many photos of your
wife and your dog. Tell us a little about them.
Alex Andrade 14:27
So going back to when you have the conversation with your
family before you decide to run for office. Sometimes they'll give you
conditions and the one main condition of running for office was if I won the
election, if we won the election, my wife was going to get a dog so she decided
to get a mini golden doodle and we called him well she got she obviously got to
give him his first name dash but I was actually talking with a friend of mine
another state representative Josie Tomko, because Jessica my wife said that,
you know, magnanimously said I could give him a middle name. And I'm a big big
little Wayne fan and big rap fan so we named him dash Young Money and Ronnie
because Young Money is the label that little Wayne started after leaving cash
money when he was when he was a coming up as a rapper but
Rosanna Catalano 15:16
I love everything about that story.
Alex Andrade 15:18
I mean, I gotta give credit to josey but no dashes dashes a
year old now. He's you know, got a lot of energy. He's very affectionate dog.
You know, we got him the same month I started coming over to Tallahassee so for
the first four months he was living with us I was almost never home you know, I
was traveling or working or something. And so it took him a little bit longer
to warm up to me then did to Jessica and he is not supposed to sleep in our bed
but uh, you know, we I mean, we create trained him in preparation so he
wouldn't sleep in our bed. But I came home after this for months and he taken
my spot and now he's a very affectionate sweet dog, and we're actually gonna
get a second dog I've been told in June of next year. I've been told it's going
to be a it's called a snoodle. Schnauzer poodle. So it'll be a little bit
smaller than dash. She's about 30 pounds.
Rosanna Catalano 16:08
How did you meet your wife, Jessica?
Alex Andrade 16:10
We met fall freshman year at the University of Florida. So I
was interning at the time and she was in a sorority. And if you're familiar
with how fraternities and sororities are, you'll have the popular sororities,
and the not so popular stories and the positive turns and also popular turns. I
would say my fraternity was one of the not so popular fraternities in my life,
Jessica is was definitely one of the more popular sororities but you there's a
freshman charity event where you get randomly paired fraternities and
sororities called new member lip sync, and they paired our two organizations
together. And so we were dance partners in a dance competition fall freshman
year us and we've been dating ever since.
Rosanna Catalano 16:50
What was your major at the University of Florida?
Alex Andrade 16:52
I majored in advertising I would say for for both Jessica
and I were our focus was more involvement. You know, we took care of school. We
were always good students. But the University of Florida in our experience was
just such a great breeding ground for leadership and experiences. You know, as
a board member for a charity called a dance marathon a US which raises millions
of dollars for Children's Hospital there. You know, Jessica was trusted with a
one and a half million dollar budget or something like that. It's a run us
homecoming. We were both in involved. Well, Jessica was involved in student
government. I was more involved in the charity and I was also a cheerleader at
USF. So yeah, I mean are while your major is important for learning in college,
the experiences you get when you're 18 1920 years old, if you're seeking them
out, you'll you'll be entrusted with you know, a lot of responsibility if you
go seek it out. And so I would say our real major was involvement us.
Rosanna Catalano 17:45
I know you are an attorney and you attended the University
of Florida's law school, why did you choose to go to law school?
Alex Andrade 17:50
So I can give you you know, the kind of political answer
that honest answer and I'm going to probably just give you the honest answer
because I never want to go to college. And you know, I wanted to go and listen
The Army or go be a missionary, my parents my dad especially so i'm i'm very
white. So when you hear that I'm Jamaican a lot of people comment on the fact
that I don't look Jamaican I didn't and I don't but Jamaica is not ever really
been a it's not as you would imagine, or a racial system being like the South
is, you know, historically it's always been more focused on class and because
of that Jamaicans really do put a high emphasis on education and I didn't
realize how important that was until I told my parents junior year of high
school that I didn't want to go to college and you know, my dad sat me down and
was like this is a more important than you think and if you don't do this will
definitely be this point and we might disown you so I'm went to college. I went
to University of Florida because bright futures and for prepaid you know,
allowed me to go there for free. I wasn't convinced I wanted to go in higher ed
at all and then I met Jessica is very ambitious and very focused and and she's
known as you want to go to law school since forever and so the real answer
about why went to law school least initially was I figured I couldn't make less
money than my wife. So we both went to law school, you know, but we we both
really took to it.
Rosanna Catalano 19:07
What extracurricular activities Did you participate in while
in law school?
Alex Andrade 19:11
I was on the trial team. And then I was the Chief Justice of
the Student Government Supreme Court.
Rosanna Catalano 19:18
Explain to us what that is.
Alex Andrade 19:20
So, so student government, especially at a large university,
like us, involves, you know, Student Senate, which a lot of people are probably
familiar with, you know, us at the time the Student Senate I think controlled
the 15 to $20 million student activity and services budget. So they collected
these taxes really from students and they distribute the money, then you have
the executive side soon by the president, vice president down the line. And
then you have to have the organians at the judiciary to kind of interpret the
rules of the student government and help navigate you know, elections
violations and rules violations for anything that the other two branches are
doing so it's it's just a mini mini version of an actual government.
Rosanna Catalano 20:00
What was your first job out of law school?
Alex Andrade 20:02
My first job out of law school was at Morehead Westmoreland
where I still am today. We're a small Civil Defense firm over in Pensacola.
Rosanna Catalano 20:10
On the show, we'd like to discuss the entrepreneurial
spirit, which is an attitude and approach to thinking that actively seeks out
change rather than waiting to adapt to change. It's a mindset that embraces
critical questioning innovation, service and continuous improvement. Tell us in
what ways if any of these qualities have shaped your career or your life?
Alex Andrade 20:29
Well, I mean, the there's there's two, I guess,
entrepreneurial experiences I've had in the past few years. I would say that
one running for office for the first time is very entrepreneurial, you're
taking a huge risk, you're taking a huge time, risk, a huge financial risk, and
you're you're taking the chance that you're going to win and it's going to pan
out for you. So you're having the backdrop of us understanding how to be humble
and work within a process definitely helped in that capacity. But the other one
is, you know, going back to what I normally tell people is especially young
people who are in college, and When I get involved in some kind of a leadership
role wherever you move after college is still focused on the community find
niches to fill an opportunity to be of service without asking for respect or a
leadership role. And my wife and I and a friend of ours named Walker Wilson
started a charity in Pensacola a few years back called on bikes. And what we do
is we buy bikes wholesale from a large bike manufacturer. And then we have this
massive event where we have people come and help us assemble these bikes that
come on assembled and then we give them to the charities in town that serve
kids throughout the year. You know, like our local foster care program families
first foster care Guardian Litem, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, boys and girls
club and so this Christmas will actually be given out I think about 600 bikes.
I just placed the bike order this week. Wow. And that's entrepreneurial as
well. You know, you're starting up a business you have to go through the 501 c
three process, you get your tax exemption, and then you have to go again and you
have to go put your, you know, believe in your organization enough to go ask
people for money and You know we've done a very good job of it and then aside
from the the bike build itself and then giving these bikes to the charities who
then distribute it to the kids, we don't give directly to kids we want to give
to the charities in town to do so much more for children, the community, the
opportunity have that when at Christmas, you know, we have a big thank you
event for our sponsors where we shut down the streets in Pensacola. We have a
big slow ride bike event where, you know, 300 400 people come on their bikes
and we just have this big old party and people you know, ride through this
beautiful Pentacles if you've never been to Pensacola, it's a beautiful
downtown.
Alex Andrade 22:33
It's right on the water.
It's got a ton of history and character. And you get to go ride around,
you know, with the streets closed for an hour like an open Park and then come
back to home base and have a big, you know, band and some beer if you're of age
and, you know, hang out and celebrate.
Rosanna Catalano 22:48
That sounds amazing. Getting back to your current work at
the legislature, what do you hope to accomplish for the constituents in your
district.
Alex Andrade 22:58
So one thing that we will might not realize about being a
legislator is you get to do constituent service year round. The Florida
Legislature is part time as far as session goes, you know, sessions, 60 days,
two months and then you have committee weeks prior, I get to go help
constituents every time they call my office and half my job is making sure that
people know to call my office. And then you know, a constituent will call us a
they have an issue with dbpr department business Professional Regulation with
their license or something and we'll go work it up with them and help them
navigate the process of getting their issue resolved with a state agency. So I
mean, we do that all the time. And I that's probably one of my favorite parts
of the job, because you get to go provide actual direct benefit to a
constituent on a more much more personal level. The other component obviously
is passing a budget which is our one constitutional requirement as legislators
and passing you know, laws or changing laws, as you see fit last year I got to,
I was fortunate enough to be allowed to run the bill that provided provides
death benefits for men and women in uniform who die overseas to their families.
So Florida is always provided a death benefit to the spouses and children of
police officers and firefighters if they die in line of service, where your
spouse and children go to a state university for free, and you'll get a
financial stipend. But we didn't do the same thing for many women in the
military. So I was very, like I said, fortunate to be allowed to run that bill
last year to provide you know, that same service to a lot of the families in
Pensacola come from the military, we're high military per capita area, we have
several really incredible bases where the home to the Blue Angels, I get to see
them practice every week. So I would say that's one legislative direct benefit,
you know, and then obviously, always it's fighting for the funds to make sure
that our infrastructure is as good as possible. You know, roads, bridges,
healthcare, reimbursement rates for the organizations that provide medical
services to different communities, different subsets of our community. You
know, it's it's you're always fighting for the funds to make sure everyone
getting the support they need and deserve.
Alex Andrade 25:03
Like to end our show with a little fun by asking all our
guests the same seven questions. What would people be surprised to know about
you?
Alex Andrade 25:12
So I mentioned as a cheerleader that I'm half Jamaican, I
have cerebral palsy, which are the usually the three more interesting facts
about me. I've also mentioned that I'm a big fan of rap. Pretty open book. And
as a 30 year old on the younger side of the legislature, you can be probably
calling social media and I'm pretty accessible. Man, aside from that, there's
not much else I can really say right now.
Rosanna Catalano 25:41
When you have guests in town, where is your favorite place
to take them?
Alex Andrade 25:45
Those not a specific place but I love telling taking them to
Palafox street which is Main Street downtown Pensacola. Like I said Pensacola
is a very old town. You know, we go back hundreds of years. And Palafox has
restaurants and And coffee shops and bars. And it's just so beautiful. And I
love showing it off because we really do just have. I mean, the state of
Florida was accepted as a state from the Spanish in my district. Andrew Jackson
accepted this the state of Florida from Spain, in the shadow of where my
district offices So, you know, showing the history of pentacles always a lot of
fun.
Rosanna Catalano 26:23
What is the name of a book you recently read that you could
not put down or the name of a show you enjoyed binge watching?
Alex Andrade 26:30
So I recently read a book I'm on a criminal justice
subcommittee and I was you know, Jerry Sprouse Chris browse a big, you know,
Criminal Justice expert. He's got a passion for the subject. And he told me to
read a book called locked in, which is probably one of the more intellectually
honest books about our prison population. And you know, how the United States
especially as you know, developed what a lot of people say is an issue with
mass incarceration. reading that book was definitely enlightening. It's got a
lot of data in it but you know, talking about the distinction between violent
offenders repeat offenders and non violent offenders and actually seeing you
know why people actually go to prison which is a lot more reasonable than I
think a lot of people think. You know, people aren't, you know, walking the
street with a dime Bag of Weed and going to prison for 10 years. It was it was
definitely very helpful for me to gain more perspective
Rosanna Catalano 27:25
Among your close family and friends, what are you best known
for?
Alex Andrade 27:30
I would probably say I'm the most impulsive.
Unknown Speaker
27:34
My, my wife and my my buddy Walker like telling the joke
that we were at dinner one night, and it was one of the first cold nights in
Pensacola and I just got this wild hair that we needed to have a bonfire that
night, so I actually got it from dinner and went home to actually get the fire
ready. So when they were done with dinner, and we would have all our friends
over to our house and the bonfire would be going so, um, I wouldn't say I'm you
know, shoot first ask questions later, necessarily. But once I decide
something's right thing to do, I definitely just just go at it full force.
Rosanna Catalano 28:06
If you have a nickname Who gave it to you?
Alex Andrade 28:08
Oh, man. It's a
terrible nickname and I hate it. It's just, it's silly when you go to
university for to get assigned an email, and my first name is actually Robert.
So my email was our Alex and Roddy. And for whatever reason, my mother in law
thought that my nickname was Ralex because I guess she didn't realize that my
first name was Robert. And it just stuck. And it's you know, I hate being
called her Alex and but people like doing it to get my goat and then the other
one actually came from Brad Drake share Brad Drake.
Unknown Speaker
28:41
last session.
Rosanna Catalano 28:42
Oh, you are calling him out right now.
Alex Andrade 28:44
My name my name is not the easiest route and I'm actually
you know, especially the first session as an unknown you know, new state rep.
committee staff difficulty pronouncing My name when they call it roll so
Indrawati would become a dandy Andrew de Andrade and To haze you on your first
bill, when you bring your first bill up in committee. You'll get hazed as a new
Rep. And Chair Drake decided throughout my first bill presentation, his
committee to address me by a different version of my last name, the entire
time, you know, Nandi and so on. And on my way out the door, he said, Thank
you, Representative Android. And that one also stuck. So there's a lot of a lot of other representatives
of Android when they see me.
Rosanna Catalano 29:29
If you knew you could not fail, what would you attempt?
Alex Andrade
29:34
Huh? Do you watch The Office ever? love that show! Okay. Do
you remember when when they asked the same question about what's his biggest
dream, just perform the perfect cartwheel? If not, so if not, it's one. It's
one of my favorite scenes who's just like the sweet, weird, sincere moment for
this bizarre character named creed each want to execute the perfect cartwheel. And that was that was his life’s dream.
Alex Andrade
29:56
I probably, you know, as a cheerleader, I never got to do a
backtalk in No, just a standing backflip. I had a game because they never
trusted me too, so I probably just try and do backflips.
Rosanna Catalano 30:06
What are the top three things you love about living in
Florida?
Alex Andrade
30:11
The weather, the people, and the no state income tax
Rosanna Catalano 30:17
Rep, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today.
Rosanna Catalano 30:25
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