José Félix Díaz (born January 16, 1980) is a Republican politician from Florida. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2010 to 2017, representing parts of Miami-Dade County. He resigned from the House in 2017 to run for a special election to the Florida Senate, but was not elected.[1][2][3]
Díaz was born in Miami and attended St. Brendan High School, after which he attended the University of Miami, where he received a degree in political science and English in 2002. He then received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 2005, and moved back to Florida, where he was a losing contest on Season 5 of The Apprentice. After leaving the show, Díaz began working for Akerman LLP as an attorney specializing in commercial litigation and zoning and land use. From 2006 to 2010, he served as a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates.
In 2010, when incumbent State RepresentativeJuan-Carlos Planas was unable to seek re-election, Díaz ran to succeed him in the 115th district, which narrowly stretched from Doral to Cutler Ridge in Miami-Dade County. He faced Kendall Community Councilwoman Carla Ascencio-Savola in the Republican primary, and he campaigned on improving the quality of living in the district, noting, "It's an important time to make this area, this district, better. People have lost confidence in where they live," and on his lack of experience in politics, declaring, "People have rallied around the fact that I'm not the same-old, same-old in the district."[4] Ultimately, Díaz defeated Ascencio-Savola by a comfortable margin, winning 60% of the vote to her 40%. He advanced to the general election, where he was opposed by Jeffrey Solomon, the Democratic nominee and Christopher Blau, the Tea Party nominee. Neither of his opponents proved to be a significant obstacle, however, and Díaz easily defeated both of them in a landslide, winning 64% of the vote to Solomon's 33% and Blau's 3%.
2012年に州の議会選挙区が再編成された際、ディアスは第116選挙区に割り当てられたが、そこには彼が以前代表していた第115選挙区の大部分が含まれていた。彼は共和党予備選挙で同じ州議会議員のアナ・リバス・ローガンと対決し、非常に激しい選挙戦となった。ディアスは、ローガンの選挙運動員が有権者に彼が同性愛者であり、「中絶賛成派」であり、大学の授業料を「15%値上げすることに賛成票を投じた」と伝えたと非難した一方、ローガンはディアスの陣営が選挙区の有権者に電話をかけ、「彼女に投票するな。彼女はニカラグア人だ。君たちの忠誠はキューバ人の票にある」と伝えたと主張した。[ 5 ]しかし、この選挙戦の激しい対立にもかかわらず、ディアスは66%の得票率でローガンの34%を上回り、指名を獲得した。総選挙に進出した彼は、候補者名を記入するだけの反対票に直面しただけで、ほぼ100%の得票率で再選を果たした。
2013年、ディアスは第26選挙区で民主党の米国下院議員ジョー・ガルシアに対抗する候補者として名前が挙がったが[ 6 ]、最終的には立候補を辞退し、代わりに再選を目指すことにした。
ディアスはフロリダ州下院規制問題委員会の委員長を務めた。また、フロリダ州下院歳出委員会、K-12小委員会、地方自治体問題小委員会の委員でもあった。[ 7 ] 2016年1月、フロリダ州下院保健イノベーション小委員会は、ディアスが提出したKidCare法案を全会一致で承認した。この法案により、フロリダ州に合法的に居住する数千人の子供が、KidCare補助金付き保険プログラムを通じて医療保障を受けられるようになる。[ 8 ]
2017年9月、民主党のアネット・タデオが第40選挙区の選挙でディアスを破り当選した。