Darlene Cerezo Swaffar: “It’s in my DNA to fight for my country”

Darlene Cerezo Swaffar/Photo courtesy

Recently, this magazine sat down with Darlene Cerezo Swaffar Congress candidate for District 23.

With a soft yet firm voice, the only Latina candidate told us about her vision for the community she wishes to represent. It’s the third attempt for Cerezo Swaffar to obtain the nomination in the Republican party. She previously ran in 2020 and in 2022.

“I knocked on 10,000 doors in the last couple of years and the number one issue in our community is the economy: reducing inflation and the cost of living”, she said.

Born and raised in New York, she moved to Florida in 1993. For more than 30 years, she worked in corporate America and since 2018, Cerezo Swaffar is the CEO and owner of Sunshine Insurance Associates, an insurance company with more than 20 agents.

Known in the Deerfield community as “The Medicare Lady”, her causes range from a variety of issues: revamping Social Security, protecting the border, fighting the illegal mandates that closed businesses, churches, and beaches during the Covid era and also to protect organic food supply from Chinese ownership of farmland, among others.

According to 2020 Census, District 23 covers the north part of Fort Lauderdale, Margate, Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Parkland and south Boca Raton (see map).

Cerezo Swaffar is a Christian and her postcards promoting the candidacy include seven Bible verses: Acts 6:3; Exodus 18:21; 2 Kings 10:3, 1 Timothy 3, Proverbs 11:14, Proverbs 29:2 and Deuteronomy 1:13.

-La Familia de Broward: Why are you running for Congress?

-Darlene Cerezo Swaffar:  I am running to protect the future of our children. I have my son in mind. He is 13 and the direction our country is heading is not the future that I envisioned for him.

-LFB: Why are the issues that you think not only Hispanics, but the community cares about?

-DCS: It’s a good question because it’s never about what I think but what the residents think right? I’ve knocked on a thousand doors in the last couple of years and the number one issue in our community is the economy: reducing inflation, the cost of living. It is a burden for all people that are having a hard time putting food on the table. That is number one, number two is, because one third of our community are seniors, they are concerned about Medicare and Social Security. Third will be controlling the border. Without a border we don’t have a country. The illegal activity in the border, they are profiting off that: sex trafficking, drug trafficking, organ harvesting. It’s open for a reason. The people coming through are told that they can vote in our elections even though it’s a lie and is illegal, but they don’t know better.

One of the things the democrat party wants to do is to take off the question of citizenship in the Census, that controls how many seats we have in the House of Representatives. We need that number on the Census to correct the number of citizens that we must have in the House. There are a couple of reasons why we need to control the border situation.

Next will be revamping education for our children. One of the items on my platform is bringing trades back in the schools so when they are graduating, they graduate with real skills, and they can work if they can’t afford to go to college.

Another item that has to do with the community is doing something about farming and food supply like getting rid of genetic modified food and not allowing foreign owned farmland. The community is concerned about Chinese companies coming in and purchasing farmland. They should not be controlling our food supply and going back to organic food.

Also enhancing benefits for our veterans is important. It’s not just mental health but empowering them with skills regarding entrepreneurship like starting a business. We also have a big component in our platform about revamping social security. Making Congress pay back everything they have taken from the Social Security fund, rolling back the three major provisions that weakened Social Security.

We also need affordable homes, there is too many developments that are not focusing on what the community needs. There is a reverse migration in South Florida with people moving out because they can’t afford it. Specifically, seniors whose Homeowners property insurance have doubled or tripled so they feel force to sell their condos. That will be the major concern of Floridians. You can go to our website and see real solutions.

-LFB: Talking about immigration, what about the more than eleven million undocumented immigrants that have been here for so long. Do you have a plan?

-DCS: I think our immigration laws are sound if you look at them, they have not been adhered to or altered. My concern is more for those we are processing that have been here legally: relatives of family members, the lottery system, work visa. These people are here for the right reasons but unfortunately, they have been taking the back seat to all the illegal activity happening at the border. I don’t think that is fair. I am hearing a lot of people complaining.

-LFB: What are the principles that move your life?

-DCS: I am God led; spirit led. It’s not about me, it’s about serving God’s purpose. If you look at the foundation of this country, we are founded on Judeo-Christian values. The early founding fathers were Puritan, Evangelical Christians, and people of Jewish descent. They were the ones focusing on self-governance and all principles that are on the Bible such as the Ten Commandments. That is the real foundation, and we are as a nation, away from that. I feel that we need to bring that back, and I am happy to see Tennessee is bringing the Ten Commandments in schools. Ingrid Ford fought to keep the Bible in our schools. We need to bring back the Bible in the discussion, we need to be one nation under God. And that is when you will see the shift of elected officials being servants. That is how the country was founded. The people are the ones who have the power. The government is only in place to protect your God given right. The state of Florida has its own constitution that has a higher authority of even the US Constitution. This is the lower power. It’s only there to protect our God given rights. When you start seeing this overreaching authority, it’s up to the people to united to fight that. This is our government.  I study this and, I found that on my father’s side of the family, six relatives have fought in the Revolutionary War 1812. That inspired me to look at how our country was founded, and how our Declaration of Independence was created as well as the Bill of rights and what this all means. It is to understand that it is in my DNA to fight for my country. We need to return to our founding principles of how this country needs to be run.

-LFB: Why should people vote for you?

-DCF: I have been fighting for the community from day one. I stood for medical freedom when they locked down our businesses, our churches, and our beaches. I stood for parental rights in the Broward County Schools when they tried to override the legislation passed by Governor De Santis and pushing the ideology of transgenders in girls’ sports, they also wanted to forced vaccines mandates in Broward County school children. I provided the documentation that showed the ingredients and how they were trying to do was unlawful because those vaccines were just for emergency use authorization and could not be mandated.

I also stood for law and order when the wanted to defund police and organized the rally to support our Coral Springs Police Department. I fought for election integrity against a complain to the Supervisors of Elections in Broward and West Palm Beach and brought this to Tallahassee. I have been fighting for a long time. I always ask everybody if a candidate hasn’t fought for you in the past, what makes you think they are going to fight for you when they are elected.

Darlene Cerezo Swaffar plattform

Securing the Border and tightening Immigration Policy

Restoring our Energy Independence

Ending the weaponization of our Government against American Citizens

Protecting and honoring our Veterans

Updating the Benchmark Income for Taxing Retirees

Medicare Reform to improve Solvency

Ending Trafficking – Sex trafficking and drug trafficking

Reducing the undue burden of double and triple taxation of American Citizens

Education Reform for our Children to equip them with a better future

Strengthening the American Family and providing programs to support parenting.

Environmental Stewardship and Organic Farming

US Foreign Policy that focuses on Peace