DeSantis ally Tina Vidal-Duart confirmed to Florida Atlantic University board
Feb 04, 2026 | 12:11 pm ET
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Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton. (Photo via FAU)
A health care chief executive who helped build the Everglades immigrant detention center the state calls “Alligator Alcatraz” was confirmed Wednesday to the Florida Atlantic University board of trustees, over objections by Democrats.
Tina Vidal-Duart, CEO of CDR Health Care, will serve on the FAU board until 2030, continuing a term that began in 2025. The Senate confirmed her to the role Wednesday morning, despite eight Democrats raising objections.
Vidal-Duart and her husband, Carlos Duart, are big DeSantis donors and long-time state contractors who’ve received up to $1 billion combined for contracting work, the Miami Herald reported. Most recently, CDR Health received a $17.5 million contract to assist in creating the Everglades center, where it provided medical facilities.
In another friction point, the 44-year-old also served on the board of the Hope Florida charity. Championed by First Lady Casey DeSantis, it’s been the subject of a state-level investigation.
“While families are suffering, while constituents called our offices in total disbelief of how their loved ones had been unjustly taken by state and federal authorities, subjected to inhumane conditions and poor healthcare services provided by her companies, Ms. Vidal-Duart was cashing in on all of this cruelty,” Democrat Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando said Wednesday.
“I don’t feel like it’s responsible public service. It feels gross, and we should reject the Senate confirmation,” he added.
Seven other Democrats joined Smith in voting “no” to Vidal-Duart’s confirmation. The only senator who publicly came to Vidal-Duart’s defense was Jason Pizzo, a Democrat-turned-independent from Sunny Isles.
“If I had to make a shortlist of people I could depend on and count on at any time of the day, at any location, Tina Vidal-Duart would be at the top of my list,” Pizzo said, recounting how she helped people in his district have greater access to COVID testing.
“Tina Vidal-Duart has now been appointed to the board of trustees … where my son goes, and I’m happy with that appointment.”
Vidal-Duart was up for Senate confirmation during the 2025 legislative session, but lawmakers failed to consider her confirmation. That meant that this year was her final chance to see out the rest of her term.
Tallahassee, FL
