Republican Vicki Lopez, the author of two controversial housing laws, faces a challenge from Democrat Jackie Gross-Kellogg in a tight, testy campaign.
In a Florida House district that leans heavily Democrat, Republican incumbent Vicki Lopez is battling with Democratic challenger and political newcomer Jackie Gross-Kellogg in the Nov. 5 general election.
Florida House District 113 encompasses Key Biscayne, Brickell, Shenandoah, parts of downtown Miami and Little Havana and the northern swath of Coconut Grove. Both candidates live in Key Biscayne.
Lopez, a former Lee County commissioner, gained the seat in 2022 after defeating Democrat Alessandro D’Amico by just 825 votes out of more than 40,000 cast. She quickly – and controversially – gained attention in Tallahassee for tackling two of the state’s thorniest issues: condo association reform and affordable housing.
In the wake of the Surfside building collapse, Lopez sponsored legislation to shore up financial requirements for maintenance and repairs – a move that many condo owners say they may be unable to afford. Lopez says the district contains 667 condominium associations.
Lopez also co-sponsored the so-called Live Local Act, which provides incentives for affordable housing construction through a provision that allows developers to skirt local zoning restrictions. Some neighborhood activists and planning experts say the new law will allow outsized developments that are incompatible with neighboring properties.
“We’ve all found ourselves almost unable to live and afford to live in Miami-Dade,” Lopez tells the Spotlight, explaining her decision to take the lead in pushing the Live Local Act. She says she may sponsor legislation to amend the law to exempt existing high-density areas, like Key Biscayne.
Concerns over the law’s potential impact in Coconut Grove, she argues, are largely overblown due to protections from the Miami 21 zoning code. Not all agree.
If reelected, Lopez hopes to push new legislation to incentivize renovation of aging midrise housing stock – in abundance in Little Havana and other areas of Miami – for low- and middle-income residents being priced out of the city.
Gross-Kellogg, a program manager at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center on Key Biscayne and a first-time candidate, says her top priorities in Tallahassee would be property insurance, LGBTQ rights, school funding, and environmental protection, especially in Biscayne Bay.
More controversially, Gross-Kellogg has floated the idea of state-subsidized guaranteed income to help struggling families pay for basic necessaries like rent, car insurance, or other special needs.
“The Florida GOP is quick to experiment with school vouchers,” she says. “So why would they be reluctant to experiment with other ideas like guaranteed income to keep people in their homes?”
Gross-Kellogg says her decision to run stems partly from the Republican Party’s stranglehold on state government, controlling both legislative branches and the governor’s mansion. She declared her candidacy in late May, close to the filing deadline. “We need to bring a bit of balance back to the table in state government,” she says.
Perhaps ironically, Gross-Kellogg notes, the GOP’s house supermajority has allowed Lopez to stray, at times, from party orthodoxy. For instance, she voted against the state’s six-week abortion ban and Republican-backed laws banning local minimum wage requirements and rules on heat protections for outdoor workers.
“You can vote moderately when your party has a supermajority,” Gross-Kellogg says. “But if [Lopez] is the deciding vote, I guarantee she will not be voting moderately. She will vote with her party. And there are a lot of serious issues at stake right now. Reproductive rights at the forefront.”
Lopez’s moderate label is a key selling point among voters in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 58 to 42 percent. The Florida GOP and affiliated political action committees have bet big on keeping the seat, donating freely to both Lopez’s campaign account and to her own PAC, Common Sense Government. Between the two, she’s raised close to $1 million.
Her campaign is also benefitting from PAC-funded attack ads that label Gross-Kellogg a “socialist and partisan extremist” and blame her for skyrocketing housing costs. Lopez has denied any knowledge of the ads, instead blaming the Republican Party.
Gross-Kellogg has raised about $39,000, mostly from small individual donations. And while the Miami-Dade Democratic Party has endorsed her, believing the seat is in-play, it has yet to offer funding or in-kind support.
For more information on Gross-Kellogg visit her campaign website here; and for Lopez, here.
Jackie Gross-Kellogg is the real deal. She has lived in South Florida for most of her life. She is genuine, transparent, trusted, and has dedicated her life volunteering to improve our community. She is always first to show up when help is needed. She co-founded the Key Biscayne Soccer Club, served as Coral Gables PTA president, and was a founding volunteer for Xavier Cortada’s Reclamation Project. Jackie is a longtime environmentalist and supports smart, balanced, sustainable development.
On the contrary, Vicki Lopez, who campaigns as a moderate,
• Voted to remove “Climate Change” from Florida Law, ban offshore wind energy, promote fossil fuels, and increases Floridians’ electric bills.
• Voted for the Don’t Say Gay Expansion/Trans Discrimination bill which promotes book banning, censors curriculum, muzzles free speech, and forbids requirement of honoring pronouns and names of students or faculty that don’t correspond to biological sex.
• Voted to require the Florida DoH to establish a taxpayer-funded website for pregnant Floridians that features deceptive, religion centered, anti-abortion pregnancy centers.
• Voted for an anti-consumer bill that raises the allowed interest rates on consumer finance loans to as high as 36% (APR).
• Voted for the Anti-Government in the Sunshine Bill, making it harder to understand who is trying to influence public policy.
Vicki Lopez’s campaign is financed by insurance companies, lobbyists, attorneys, and developers. She is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in TV commercials and mailers that are viciously attacking Jackie Gross-Kellogg, through blatant lies and misinformation. Why the need for the attacks, and who will benefit from their large investments into Vicki Lopez’s war chest of campaign funds?
I have known Jackie Gross-Kellogg for several years. A South Florida resident for most of her life, Jackie is a trustworthy and kind-hearted person who has dedicated her life to improving the Key Biscayne and Greater Miami communities. She co-founded the Key Biscayne Soccer Club, served as Coral Gables PTA president, and was a founding volunteer for Xavier Cortada’s Reclamation Project. Jackie is a longtime environmentalist and supports smart sustainable development that benefits everyone, including the environment.
Although current HD 113 Legislator Vicki Lopez campaigns as a moderate, her actions tell a different story. To name just a few, she sponsored the Live Local Act that offers tax benefits and incentives to developers and sidesteps local zoning codes, she approved the use of a radioactive chemical in road construction despite it being banned by the Environmental Protection Agency due to public health concerns, and she approved the Censorship in Public Education bill prohibiting state colleges and universities from spending any state or federal dollars on programs that advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion policies or any type of social activism.
Vicki Lopez’s campaign is financed by insurance companies, lobbyists, attorneys and developers because they are the only people who she represents. Jackie Gross-Kellogg’s campaign is financed by a wide spectrum of residents because we know she will represent all residents of HD 113 and will protect the environment that provides for Miami-Dade County’s citizens and without which the tourism industry would collapse. Jackie is the best candidate!