{"id":372505,"date":"2026-08-15T20:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T20:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372505\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T20:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T20:24:12","slug":"5-candidates-compete-in-primaries-for-long-vacant-swingy-hd-113-seat-in-miami-dade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372505\/","title":{"rendered":"5 candidates compete in Primaries for long-vacant, swingy HD 113 seat in Miami-Dade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Democrats and three Republicans are competing Aug. 18 for a House seat in Miami-Dade that Gov. Ron DeSantis has allowed to sit vacant since November.<\/p>\n

On the Democratic side, Justin Mendoza-Routt and Gloria Romero Roses are facing off for their party\u2019s nomination in House District 113<\/a>, which covers a central coastal portion of the county spanning all of Key Biscayne and parts of Coral Gables and Miami.<\/p>\n

Across the political aisle, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, political newcomer Tony J. Diaz and two-time candidate Frank Lago are running for the right to defend the GOP\u2019s control of the district in November.<\/p>\n

The HD 113 seat opened nine months ago<\/a>, when Republican Vicki Lopez left for an appointment to the Miami-Dade Commission. She filled a vacancy created when Democrat Eileen Higgins ran for Mayor of Miami.<\/p>\n

DeSantis never called a Special Election, leaving the seat empty throughout the 2026 Legislative Session and multiple subsequent Special Sessions. By the time the winner takes office after the Nov. 3 General Election, the district will have gone nearly a year without representation in the House.<\/p>\n

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HD 113 \u2014 which encompasses the Miami neighborhoods of Brickell, Downtown, Little Havana, northern Grove, Shenandoah and Virginia Key \u2014 along with PortMiami \u2014 is one of the county\u2019s most unpredictable political tracts.<\/p>\n

Lopez flipped the long-blue seat by 2 percentage points in 2022 and won re-election with nearly 55% of the vote two years later. Donald Trump carried the district by roughly 5 points in 2024, according to MCI Maps<\/a>, but Joe Biden won it by 12 points four years earlier.<\/p>\n

Republicans in the district hold a slight registration edge \u2014 25,424 GOP-aligned voters compared to 21,678 Democrats among 77,022 voters total, per the Coconut Grove Spotlight<\/a> \u2014 with nearly 40% of voters unaffiliated.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at who\u2019s on the ballot.<\/p>\n

Democratic Primary<\/p>\n

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Mendoza-Routt, 37, is a Colombian American asset appraiser for Tiger Capital Group<\/a> who spent a decade in finance in New York and Miami. He leads the Miami-Dade Young Democrats<\/a> and the Historic Bayside Civic Association.<\/p>\n

Housing affordability is the cornerstone of his campaign. He\u2019s argued Florida\u2019s workforce housing system leaves out too many people at 120% of area median income and says he\u2019ll work to reform or repeal the developer-friendly Live Local Act<\/a>, which includes affordable housing provisions.<\/p>\n

Mendoza-Routt said he\u2019d also address the state\u2019s persistent insurance issues<\/a> by targeting the reinsurance market and a combined-reporting loophole he says lets carriers obscure profits. He supports school vouchers, but not at public schools\u2019 expense, and called the GOP-pushed property tax amendment proposal<\/a> rushed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Justin Mendoza-Routt. Image via the candidate.<\/p>\n

Through July 31, he raised more than $47,000 through his campaign account and a now-closed political committee<\/a>, plus $85,000 in self-loans, and spent all but $17,400 of that sum with less than three weeks before Election Day.<\/p>\n

Romero Roses, 55, is a Colombian-born Brickell Key resident who ran an assisted living facility before selling it in 2020. She now invests in small businesses.<\/p>\n

She serves as Vice Chair of Ruth\u2019s List Florida and previously worked in affordable housing development and grant administration. In 2012, she ran for Congress<\/a>, losing a Democratic Primary to Joe Garcia with 31% of the vote.<\/p>\n

Romero Roses also has Live Local in her sights. She wants to lower the law\u2019s workforce housing income cap to $75,000. She also wants to provide state financing to affordable housing developers, allow small-scale construction on vacant lots and speed local permitting.<\/p>\n

She opposes the property tax amendment, too, calling the two-day Session that produced it insufficient for a decision affecting all 67 counties.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Gloria Romero Roses. Image via the candidate.<\/p>\n

Romero Roses raised more than $331,000 through her campaign account and political committee<\/a>, more than half of which \u2014 $181,000 \u2014 was self-loaned. She had about $151,600 by Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

Her endorsement list includes Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman, House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, former U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, former CFO Alex Sink, the Florida AFL-CIO, the Florida Education Association, United Teachers of Dade, Latino Victory Project, Ruth\u2019s List<\/a>, SAVE Action PAC<\/a> and the Miami Herald editorial board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mendoza-Routt, meanwhile, carries nods from state Rep. Ashley Gantt, Miami-Dade School Board Member Joe Geller, Miami Commissioner Christine King, Miami Beach Commissioners Tanya Katzoff Bhatt and Monica Matteo Salinas, former state Sen. Annette Taddeo, former Miami Commissioner Sabina Covo, Florida Rising, Engage Y\u2019all, Moms Demand Action and Florida Young Democrats.<\/p>\n

Republican Primary<\/p>\n

Barreiro, 60, is a home healthcare executive who served in the Florida House from 1992 to 1998, then spent two decades on the County Commission until 2018. He has run repeatedly since \u2014 for Congress in 2018, for the Legislature in 2020 and briefly for the Miami City Commission in 2021, before dropping out<\/a> after six weeks.<\/p>\n

Last year he was among five applicants for the County Commission seat that went to Lopez.<\/p>\n

He told the Coconut Grove Spotlight<\/a> the district needs someone who won\u2019t have to learn on the job, and that he\u2019ll fight overdevelopment and steer state dollars back to Miami-Dade.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bruno Barreiro. Image via the candidate.<\/p>\n

He called Live Local a knee-jerk response to the housing shortage that invites overdevelopment without matching infrastructure, but backs the property tax amendment, arguing retirees are struggling to stay in their homes.<\/p>\n

Other priorities include toll relief and addressing traffic congestion, community safety and condo safety reform.<\/p>\n

Barreiro reported raising close to $161,000 this cycle through his campaign account and political committee<\/a>, an overwhelming share of it \u2014 $125,000 \u2014 self-loaned. He entered August with just over $61,600 on hand.<\/p>\n

The Miami Herald editorial board<\/a> called him the most experienced candidate, but flagged his 2009 Commission vote for the Marlins stadium financing deal, which saddled taxpayers with $2 billion in long-term debt.<\/p>\n

Diaz, 31, runs a fruit tree nursery and a printing business and has lived in HD 113 his entire life. He told Florida Politics<\/a> he decided to run for office after seeing two vacancies filled without elections \u2014 one on the Miami Commission, the other at County Hall, with Lopez, whom he\u2019d competed against for the appointment.<\/p>\n

As a fix, he promised to file a bill requiring a Special Election within four weeks of any vacancy.<\/p>\n

Diaz is the only candidate running for HD 113 without a political committee, which he cites as evidence that he\u2019s not beholden to corporate or institutional interests.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tony Diaz. Image via the candidate.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also raised the least money: about $47,500 in outside contributions, plus $16,500 in self-loans. Diaz spent all of it and then some; his campaign account shows expenditures topping $67,500 \u2014 roughly $3,500 more than he reported taking in.<\/p>\n

Unable to compete on the same monetary plane, Diaz has gone on the offensive, targeting Barreiro and Lago with Donald Trump-style nicknames, while employing outside-the-box tactics like opening a \u201cprovisional representation office<\/a>\u201d in January, where he invited his opponents to meet twice monthly to discuss policy.<\/p>\n

If elected, he said he\u2019d work to repeal Live Local, enact a four-year moratorium on new data center developments, ban Florida Power & Light from making political contributions and prohibit selective policy offerings by insurers.<\/p>\n

He also opposes loosening abortion restrictions, but supports recreational marijuana.<\/p>\n

The Herald credited him with good ideas, but said he isn\u2019t ready for state office, citing his name-calling of opponents.<\/p>\n

Lago, 46, is a commercial real estate adviser and Chair of the Miami-Dade Planning Advisory. Born in Miami and now living in Brickell, he began as an urban planner at Florida International University\u2019s Metropolitan Center and served as Chief of Staff to Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maro\u00f1o until 2011 \u2014 two years before Maro\u00f1o\u2019s arrest on federal bribery charges. Lago faced no charges.<\/p>\n

His campaign site<\/a> lists safer neighborhoods, accountable leadership and support for local families and small businesses.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Frank Lago. Image via the candidate.<\/p>\n

He wants Live Local reformed to incentivize homeownership rather than rentals and to lower the measure\u2019s density-bonus income threshold, according to the Grove Spotlight. He also supports the property tax amendment.<\/p>\n

Lago has raised the second-most of all HD 113 candidates \u2014 $226,000 through his campaign account and political committee<\/a>, including $25,000 in self-loans \u2014 and he\u2019s spent big; by Aug. 1, he had just $40,000 left.<\/p>\n

Lopez endorsed him<\/a> as her preferred successor, as did state Rep. Juan Porras, Key Biscayne Mayor Joe Rasco, the Herald editorial board, Florida Realtors PAC, Associated Industries of Florida, South Florida Council of Firefighters, Brickell Homeowners Association and Miami Young Republicans.<\/p>\n

Barreiro carries endorsements from the Florida Nurses Association<\/a>. A mid-July Instagram post<\/a> features a photo of him and Trump, who has not officially weighed in on the HD 113 contest.<\/p>\n

Diaz has support from the American Patriot Executive Committee and Guardians of American History, and he\u2019s received contributions from Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro, former Miami Commissioner Joe Sanchez, former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, Miami-Dade Commission candidate Miguel Quintero and the campaign treasurer of gubernatorial candidate James Fishback.<\/p>\n

Paola Vazquez del Mercado has qualified as a write-in for November.<\/p>\n