![\"Dayna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fc049a67-40d2-4c27-b564-96efc8abea3_fitted.jpeg\" "\\"Dayna")
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Dayna Marie Foster (to the right), a 32-year-old former Fort Lauderdale High School teacher, is running as a Democrat for governor.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Foster for Florida<\/p>\n
When Dayna Marie Foster thinks of why she decided to run for governor, she remembers the students she had as a math teacher at Fort Lauderdale High School.<\/p>\n
There was the girl who didn\u2019t do her homework because she was too busy taking care of her younger siblings while her mom picked up extra shifts at work to make ends meet. The boy who asked her if she lost access to food stamps like his family did when the federal government was shut down around Thanksgiving. And their classmates who didn\u2019t show up to school because their parents were afraid of being stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have these windows through the students to the families and what they\u2019re going through, there\u2019s no way that I personally could just turn a blind eye to what was happening and not do anything about it,\u201d said Foster, herself a Fort Lauderdale High alum. \u201cWe can talk all day long, but talk is cheap. Where is the actual action?\u201d<\/p>\n
Foster, 32, is among the half-dozen names Democrats will see on the ballot when they go to vote in Florida\u2019s Aug. 18 primary election. Like most of them, she lacks significant money and a sizable campaign machine. Pollsters are already looking ahead to November<\/a>, expecting David Jolly, a former Republican congressman who changed his party affiliation to Democrat last spring,<\/a> to face off with GOP frontrunner Byron Donalds.<\/p>\n But Foster, who decided to leave the profession when last school year ended, is carrying a torch for the tens of thousands of Florida teachers who remain in an industry that, in this state, is increasingly constrained by regulations about what they can and can\u2019t say, both inside the classroom and out.<\/p>\n Her decidedly progressive campaign platform \u2014 she was endorsed<\/a> Thursday by Florida\u2019s Democratic Progressive Caucus \u2014 includes hiking pay for Florida\u2019s teachers, boosting funding for public education and, as she says it, getting censorship out of schools.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic servants know what\u2019s at stake, and we\u2019re fighting for our democracy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 \u201canti-woke\u201d agenda has taken a toll on teachers and students, Foster said. She\u2019s seen students disappointed by the state\u2019s rejection of an AP African American history course<\/a> and English teachers strategically pick books that wouldn\u2019t offend the governor\u2019s sensibilities. Even as a math teacher, Foster said she has been impacted by the state\u2019s so-called \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d policies because she cannot refer to transgender students by their preferred pronouns. The pressure on teachers \u201cto walk on eggshells\u201d in the classroom has gone too far, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we are seeing is that this is the active implementation of a plan to dismantle the pillars that preserve and facilitate the information that a population needs in order to retain its power and make sure that democracy always lies within the hands of the people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Restrictions have extended outside the classroom, with some teachers being fired or punished<\/a> for criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk after his assassination. They have also reached into the state\u2019s universities, with one state college English professor suing over her termination<\/a> for a short story that dealt with sex, which apparently made one pupil uncomfortable enough to lodge a complaint.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a teacher wanted to cover \u2018To Kill a Mockingbird\u2019 as opposed to \u2018Huckleberry Finn,\u2019 they had that autonomy to choose between those two books,\u201d Foster said. \u201cBut now we\u2019re in the space where the DOE here in Florida says, \u2018No, you don\u2019t get the choice at all.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The Florida Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Teachers running for office<\/p>\n State Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democrat running for Florida\u2019s 24th Congressional district and a former chemistry teacher, said the political climate surrounding teachers and public schools has changed drastically since he first entered office in 2012. Similarly to Foster, Jones\u2019 experience in the classroom pushed him to run for office.<\/p>\n \u201cTeachers had educational freedom. We weren\u2019t dealing with the Stop Woke Act and all this other stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cNow you have teachers looking over their shoulders, to the point where teachers don\u2019t even want to be in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Foster says she left her teaching job June 30 \u201cbecause I firmly believe that more professionals like myself need to step into public office.\u201d<\/p>\n Foster was not happy with her options, and even unhappier with the Florida Democratic Party\u2019s strategy, comparing Jolly to Charlie Crist, another Republican-turned-Democrat who badly lost to DeSantis in 2022. \u201cI didn\u2019t see a leader that I could stand behind,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n \u201cDemocracy is a representative process. We should see more leaders that look like ourselves in these positions of public office, and it doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s at the most local level or if it\u2019s at the state level,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Jones said he wasn\u2019t familiar with Foster\u2019s policies and ideas, but he has seen her videos on social media, where she\u2019s recently gained some traction, with 64,000 followers on TikTok. \u201cShe\u2019s very personable, and people have been vibing with her from her videos,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n While Jones believes Jolly is Democrats\u2019 best chance at winning the governorship, he said \u201cthere\u2019s not enough teachers running for office.\u201d Teachers\u2019 patience and compassion make them great candidates, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one should sit out because someone tells them to sit out,\u201d Jones said. \u201cHer running is noble. Her running is very democratic. And listen, at the end of the day, the people will have to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Students\u2019 best interests at heart\u2019<\/p>\n Samantha Allie, an 18-year-old Fort Lauderdale High graduate, said Foster, her junior-year math teacher, has qualities she looks for in a candidate: kindness, compassion and intelligence. Foster\u2019s patience helped Allie succeed in math class despite her dyscalculia, a disorder that affects the brain\u2019s ability to do math.<\/p>\n \u201cMs. Foster was a teacher that you could go back and visit,\u201d Allie said. \u201cShe was very special.\u201d<\/p>\n During her senior year, Allie was catching up with Foster when she told her she had big news, but she couldn\u2019t talk about it in school. Allie googled her former teacher at home and was thrilled to see her campaign website. As a future education student at Florida Atlantic University, Allie said Foster\u2019s education policies resonate with her.<\/p>\n \u201cShe has students\u2019 best interests at heart. She has teachers\u2019 best interests at heart,\u201d Allie said.<\/p>\n Born in New York, Foster moved to South Florida when she was in the second grade. She spent her formative years in Broward moving around to different cities as her mother, a single parent, looked for more affordable options. At 19, she began working at the Broward County Library at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n She earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in finance from Florida Atlantic University, a master\u2019s degree in finance from Florida International University and a master\u2019s degree in information from Florida State University, according to her campaign website.<\/a> Frustrated after the 2024 elections, Foster earned another bachelor\u2019s degree in political science from Florida State University.<\/p>\n Progressives, particularly democratic socialists in New York and Colorado<\/a>, have made a splash in recent elections<\/a>, much to the chagrin of establishment Democrats who do not want to be associated with far-left ideology. Though Republicans have won major elections in Florida in recent years, Foster insists that Florida is still a swing state and it\u2019s possible for progressives to win big.<\/p>\n![\"Schoolchildren](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_MIA_DESANTIS_HIALEAH_5_1_NFNP529D_L792079544.JPG\" "\\"IMG_MIA_DESANTIS_HIALEAH_5_1_NFNP529D_L792079544.JPG\\"")
Schoolchildren holding signs against the concept of critical race theory stand on stage alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as he addresses the crowd before signing HB 7, titled the ‘Individual Freedom’ bill but also dubbed the “Stop Woke Act,” during a press conference at Mater Academy Charter Middle\/High School in Hialeah Gardens, Florida, on Friday, April 22, 2022. Miami <\/p>\n![\"Florida](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MIA_03SHEVJONESCLERGY.JPG\" "\\"MIA_03SHEVJONESCLERGY.JPG\\"")
Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones gives remarks on service after receiving endorsements from at least a dozen Black clergymen Monday at Greater New Bethel Church in Miami Gardens, in his bid to replace outgoing Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. The show of support follows Wilson’s endorsement of former Miami-Dade County commissioner Oliver Gilbert and comes as Jones faces a crowded field of opponents after debating issues such as affordability, education, and federal policy last week. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n![\"Democratic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MIA_2026-06-12AD0835DavidJollyFLGovnominee.JPG\" "\\"MIA_2026-06-12AD0835DavidJollyFLGovnominee.JPG\\"")
Democratic candidate for Florida governor, David Jolly, speaks during a campaign rally with running mate and former Congresswoman Gwen Graham at Florida International University Graham Center Ballroom in Miami on Florida, on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Photography by AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n Dayna Marie Foster, a 32-year-old former Fort Lauderdale High School teacher, is running as a Democrat for governor. Courtesy of Foster for Florida <\/p>\n