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Daniel Perez (politician)

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Daniel Perez
104th Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
Assumed office
November 19, 2024
Preceded byPaul Renner
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 116th district
Assumed office
November 6, 2018
Preceded byJose Felix Diaz
Personal details
Born
Daniel Anthony Perez

(1987-06-22) June 22, 1987 (age 37)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseStephanie Perez
Children3
EducationFlorida State University (BA)
Loyola University New Orleans (JD)
WebsiteOfficial website

Daniel Anthony Perez is a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives representing the state's 116th House district, which includes part of Miami-Dade County.

Florida House of Representatives

[edit]

Perez defeated Jose Mallea in a special Republican primary held on July 25, 2017, winning 54.8% of the vote.[1] In the September 26, 2017 special general election, Perez won 65.8% of the vote, defeating Democrat Gabriela Mayaudon.[2]

Seeking election to his first full term in 2018, Perez defeated Frank Polo in the August 28, 2018 Republican primary, winning 80.5% of the vote.[3] In the November 6, 2018 general election, Perez won 57.32% of the vote, defeating Democrat James Harden.[4]

In 2022, Perez defended Republican efforts to add elaborate requirements for voters to vote by mail. These included forcing voters to put their double-enveloped ballots inside a third envelope and to mark the last four letters of their identity numbers. Election officials characterized the requirements as a "recipe for disaster" while voting rights advocates characterized the efforts as voter suppression. Perez defended the measures, saying "the process is actually going to be simpler... and at the same time it would be safer."[5]

In September 2023, Perez was nominated Speaker-designate of the Florida House of Representatives by his caucus. After the 2024 elections, he succeeded Paul Renner as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.[6]

In January 2025, Perez alongside other Floridian Republicans including Florida Senate president Ben Albritton helped to bring down an attempt by governor DeSantis to call a special session on the topic of illegal immigration. Perez claimed that the call for a special session should "... be used sparingly and not be stunts used to generate headlines.", as well as calling the governor's proposals "bureaucratic".[7] As a replacement, Perez and other Republican state legislators have pushed through and passed the "Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act" (TRUMP Act) which DeSantis has criticized for being "substantially weaker" than what he had pushed for and threatened to veto the bill.[8][9][10] Perez has also split with the governor on the issue of the budget, helping to override a veto on funding for legislative operations, reporting that "This veto was at best a misunderstanding of the importance of the appropriation, or, at worst, an attempt to threaten the independence of our separate branch of government."[11]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Florida Department of State - Election Results". Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Florida Department of State - Election Results". Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Florida Department of State - Election Results". Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  4. ^ "Florida Election Watch - State Representative". Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Vote-by-mail changes would add envelopes and ID numbers". Florida Courier. 18 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  6. ^ "Five things to know about future Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez". City & State FL. 2023-09-18. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  7. ^ "Republican Lawmakers in Florida Rebel Against DeSantis in Rare Power Move". New York Times. 2025-01-27. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  8. ^ "Gov. DeSantis accuses Legislature of 'theatrics' and 'messaging bills' amid Special Session split". Florida Politics. 2025-01-27. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  9. ^ "Legislature passes TRUMP Act immigration bill that clashed with Ron DeSantis". Florida Politics. 2025-01-28. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  10. ^ "Ron DeSantis threatens to veto bill, slams Republicans for being weak on immigration". Florida Politics. 2025-01-29. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  11. ^ "Legislature restores $56M+ in support services vetoed by Gov. DeSantis". Florida Politics. 2025-01-27. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
Political offices
Preceded by Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
2024–present
Incumbent