Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, speaks to the media during the first day of the legislative session at the Florida State Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Tallahassee, Fla.
Matias J. Ocner
mocner@miamiherald.com
President Trump is nominating Florida’s outgoing House speaker to be ambassador to Brazil, the latest Miami Republican named to a prominent diplomatic post.
Speaker Daniel Perez, who is finishing out his final term in the House this year as the chamber’s leader, was on a list of ambassadorial nominations released by the White House on Monday.
Perez was not immediately available for comment.
If confirmed by the Republican controlled U.S. Senate, Perez will join a small diplomatic corps from the Miami area: Panama Ambassador Kevin Cabrera is a former Miami-Dade County Commissioner; Peru Ambassador Bernie Navarro ran a mortgage company in Coral Gables, and healthcare executive Benjamin Leon is Trump’s ambassador to Spain.
First elected to the Florida House in 2017, Perez, 38, represents the Westchester area in Miami-Dade County. The married father of three is also the in-house counsel for a healthcare company.