Frustrated by the governor’s failure to call a special election to fill an empty seat in House District 113, one candidate has turned his backyard tiki hut into a “constituent” office to meet with district voters, including those in the North Grove.
Have a complaint about what the Florida Legislature is up to this year? Good luck, if you live in Florida House District 113, which includes Coconut Grove.
The closest thing you and nearly 76,000 other voters have to a district office is a tiki hut surrounded by potted trees in the backyard of a Silver Bluff home.
Republican candidate Tony J. Diaz says he turned his tiki hut into a de-facto constituent office last month because no one in the Florida House is representing the residents of HD 113, which includes the North Grove, Silver Bluff, Key Biscayne, Shenandoah, Brickell, parts of downtown, and Edgewater.
And he means that literally.
The district’s former representative, Republican Vicki Lopez, was appointed to the Miami-Dade County Commission in November to replace Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins.
That left HD 113 without a representative, and it isn’t clear when – or if – Gov. Ron DeSantis will call a special election to fill that seat. If DeSantis doesn’t call a special election, HD 113 will be vacant until November.
“We’re missing out on appropriations that can help with flooding and traffic. We’re missing out on the budget,” said Diaz, a 31-year-old who has worked as a political consultant, owned a printing press business, and now runs a tree grafting service.
“We’re missing out on oversight. So, if there’s anything wrong with any departments down here… we don’t have someone from this district who will look into that.”
HD 113 is a competitive seat. So far, five candidates including Diaz are in the race to replace Lopez.
The other Republican hopefuls include former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro and Frank Lago, a real estate consultant.
Running as Democrats are Gloria Romero Roses, who owns an assisted living facility, and Miami-Dade Young Democrats president Justin Mendoza Routt.
HD 113 is also a tossup politically.
As of this month, 36.1% of the district’s 75,919 registered voters have no party affiliation, 32.8% are Republicans, and 28.3% are Democrats, according to figures from Miami-Dade County’s Elections Department.
Although DeSantis has the power to call a special election to fill a vacancy in the Florida Legislature or Congress, the governor sometimes takes weeks or months to call one.
During DeSantis’ current term, it has taken anywhere from one to 92 days for the governor to call a special election, according to a staff report from the Florida Senate’s Committee on Ethics and Elections. That is an average of 35 days for 28 special elections called between 2022 and the present.
In contrast, the ethics and election committee report stated, it took an average of 7.6 days for past governors to call special elections for 65 vacancies, the state senate committee report stated.
DeSantis’ office did not return inquiries for comment.
Democratic State Senator Tina Polsky of Broward has proposed a bill that would require the governor to call a special election within two weeks after a vacancy occurs. Should it pass, the bill will become law on July 1.
Diaz would rather not wait that long. He said he has been trying to find an attorney willing to sue DeSantis to force him to call a special election for HD 113. But Diaz said no one, including the American Civil Liberties Union, has returned his calls.
In an email to the Spotlight, Keisha Mulfort, deputy director of communications for the ACLU of Florida, said that DeSantis’ “repeated, anti-voter practice of failing to call timely special elections deprives citizens of representation and often violates the law.”
However, the governor isn’t required to call a special election “if the legislature is not scheduled to be in session.”
“In this case, there was no practical way to hold a special primary and general election before the end of the legislature’s regular session in mid-March,” Mulfort wrote.
Longtime lobbyist Ron Book said it’s uncertain if someone could even be elected to HD 113 in time to participate in the April 20-24 special session, which Governor DeSantis has called for the sole purpose of redrawing Florida’s congressional districts.
“Why spend whatever it costs for an election if the person is unable to serve?” Book asked. “Better to wait and save the money since you are going to have a primary in August and an election in November.”
But state lawmakers fulfill an important function even when the Florida Legislature is not in session, said Nancy Lawther, legislative liaison for the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.
The constituent service lawmakers provide is critical, especially at a time when Tallahassee is addressing issues that directly impact local communities, she said.
Diaz said that’s why he set up his tiki hut as an impromptu office. Diaz said he’s made two appointments with constituents, “which is exciting because I expected zero.”
What’s more, Diaz said he has offered to share the space or hold regular meetings with his rival candidates to compare notes on how to best represent the district.
Lago and Barreiro did not respond to a request for comment in time for this story, but the district’s two Democratic candidates shared their displeasure about the current state of affairs via email.
Mendoza Routt wrote that leaving the district without a representative this legislative session “silences our community and leaves Miami-Dade without full representation.”
“Critical decisions are being made right now on housing affordability, skyrocketing property insurance, healthcare access, and cost-of-living pressures, yet tens of thousands of Floridians have no elected voice at the table,” he wrote. “The governor needs to stop playing games and set a timely special election immediately.”
Romero Roses called on the governor “to fulfill his duty” by calling a special election.
“House District 113 deserves actual representation now. Miami-Dade is being left without a voice at a time when working families and small businesses are being priced out of their own neighborhoods,” she wrote.
