Both parties battle in primaries for wide open Florida House District 113 seat

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There are five candidates fighting in two primaries for the open Florida House District 113 seat — and, for once, voters on both sides of the aisle actually have a choice.

Imagine that.

The Aug. 18 primary has two Democrats and three Republicans hoping to replace former State Rep. Vicki Lopez, who left the seat after being appointed to the Miami-Dade commission to replace Eileen Higgins, who was elected mayor of Miami. Gov. Ron DeSantis never bothered to call a special election, so the district — which includes Key Biscayne, Virginia Key, PortMiami and parts of Miami and Coral Gables — has gone without representation in Tallahassee this past session.

And the race to fill it has attracted an interesting mix of establishment support, old-fashioned Miami political name recognition, younger activists and, naturally, lots and lots of money.

On the Democratic side, real estate professional and affordable-housing executive Gloria Romero Roses faces Justin Mendoza-Routt, president of the Miami-Dade Young Democrats.

Read related: Pick your baggage: Miami-Dade District 5 voters get quite the menu this election

On the Republican side, political carpetbagger Frank Lago faces former Miami-Dade Commissioner and former State Rep. Bruno Barreiro and Tony Diaz, a local small businessman and urban farmer.

And while there doesn’t appear to be any credible public polling in either primary yet, the money gives us some clues as to who the frontrunners might be.

In the blue primary, Romero Roses has the establishment. Mendoza-Routt has the youngsters.

Romero Roses certainly looks like the Democratic frontrunner on paper. She has raised about $119,000 from more than 500 contributors and loaned her campaign another $170,000, giving her close to $300,000 to work with.

But the more telling number may be the names behind her.

Romero Roses has collected endorsements from former Congresswoman Donna Shalala, former Florida CFO Alex Sink, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson, Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman, House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell, Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, School Board member Luisa Santos and a collection of other longtime Democratic players.

She’s also been endorsed by the Florida AFL-CIO, the Florida Education Association, Latino Victory Project and Ruth’s List.

In other words, Gloria has pretty much assembled the Democratic establishment starter pack.

Mendoza-Routt is coming at her from a very different direction.

As president of the Miami-Dade Young Democrats, he has a natural base among younger Democratic activists and the grassroots crowd. He has the backing of Florida Rising and Engage Y’all PAC.

But he’s significantly behind Romero Roses financially. Mendoza-Routt has raised about $39,200 and put another $85,000 of his own money into the campaign.

That’s not nothing.

But it’s also not $300,000.

Read related: Following the money in both primaries for Florida House District 113 is easy

His opportunity — and maybe his only real path — is turnout. August primaries can be sleepy affairs, and organized activists can punch far above their weight when everybody else forgets there’s an election. As of July 17, he still had about $60,000 to spend on early voting and Election Day.

Romero Roses, who still had about $150K on July 17, has the money and establishment. Mendoza-Routt has the young Dem organization and the eagerness of a Boy Scout on his Eagle Service project.

Vamos a ver.

In the red primary, which is far more interesting, Lago has the establishment money, Barreiro has the name — and Diaz has the fire.

According to the latest campaign reports, Lago has raised about $162,500 from contributors — far more outside money than either of his Republican opponents — and added a $25,000 loan from himself. The checks for Lago, a real estate broker include bundled donations — repeat checks of the maximum $1,000 — from real estate interests, lobbyists and developers like Bluenest, which is trying to build housing in the Redland area and down South and has gotten some neighborhood opposition. He also got some bucks from automobile mogul Norman Braman and gasoline mogul Max Alvarez, who like to support winners.

Additionally, he collected $17,500 for his PAC, Friends of Frank Lago. Eight contributions since December. Guess he doesn’t have that many friends? The PAC also spent $8,000, including more than $2,500 to the candidate himself to reimburse him for travel and event expenses.

Lago also qualified for the ballot by petition, collecting more than the required number of verified voter signatures. That’s another indication that somebody over there on his team knows how to organize a campaign.

But Lago has a problem money can’t necessarily solve.

His name is not Bruno Barreiro.

Bruno has been around Miami politics approximately since the invention of the cafecito. He served in the Florida House before spending two decades on the Miami-Dade County Commission. He’s run for Congress. He’s run for the Legislature again. He toyed with running for Miami City Commission. He’s been on enough ballots that there are voters who probably recognize his name without remembering exactly why.

That matters enormously in an Aug. 18 Republican primary.

The problem might come if they do remember why. Because Barreiro comes with some baggage — namely the Marlins stadium vote.  Barreiro was one of the important supporters of the publicly financed Marlins Park deal — the enormously expensive arrangement that became synonymous with Miami-Dade corporate welfare and ultimately cost taxpayers far beyond the headline construction price.

That alone gives an opponent an easy “career politician who gives away taxpayer money” attack.

But he also has that little tidbit about getting the county to lease his district office from his own family, at $29,000 a year. That’s another hit piece waiting to happen.

Read related: Surprise GOP primary in HD112 as Bruno Barreiro tries to come back

Perhaps that is why Barreiro’s fundraising has been a little lackluster.

He’s raised only a little more than $31,000 from contributors, between both his campaign account and his political action committee, Transparency in Government (cute name). That’s lower than someone with his pedigree may have expected.

But he has loaned himself $120,000. Which means he really, really wants it. He still has about $10,000 left in his campaign account and $31,000 left in his PAC, which became reactivated in the last quarter of 2025.

So Bruno’s campaign is essentially betting that what he lacks in enthusiastic donors he can make up for with personal money and decades of name recognition. That’s not necessarily a bad bet. In 2020, Barreiro won a Republican House primary with almost 64% of the vote before losing the general election to Democrat Nick Duran, 53%-47%.

The question is whether that Bruno Barreiro brand still has enough juice six years later.

And then there’s Tony Diaz, who nobody can forget. His social media is buzzing with criticism of the establishment, the party, his opponents and even electeds who have nothing to do with the race (i.e. Vicki Lopez). No tiene pesos en la lengua and that’s a refreshing tone from a would-be politician. He’s not really even a would-be politician. Ladra is confident that Tallahassee wouldn’t change Diaz.

But he could change Tally if the voters let him.

Read related: Tony Diaz opens backyard tiki hut for democracy in Florida House District 113

Diaz has raised roughly $46,300, but almost half of that — or $26,000 — is out of his pocket. Not a loan. Just an investment. He also loaned himself about $16,500 and has spent practically all of it as of July 17, including significant amounts on printing and Facebook advertising.

So while he’s running an active campaign, he’s caught between a candidate with considerably more donor support and another with considerably more political name recognition. Not exactly the most comfortable place to be.

Still, three-way primaries are funny things. You don’t need 50%. You just need one more vote than the other two guys. And with Lago and Barreiro splitting the establishment and Diaz winning all of the growing disenfranchised bloc, he’s certainly not a write off.

Also, nobody seems to know who is ahead.  Political Cortadito could not find any legitimate public polling of either primary. There are online “polls” floating around, but clicking a button on the Internet does not make something scientific polling. Sorry.

And if any of these campaigns have internal polls — and somebody probably does — they’re apparently keeping them close to the vest. Which makes the fundraising, endorsements and organizational support even more important indicators.

Right now, Ladra would put Romero Roses — who has spoken recently at the city of Miami commission meetings against the ICE 287g agreement and the Live Local Act — ahead on the Democratic side because of her overwhelming institutional support and financial advantage. She also has the name recognition from having run for Congress once in a primary against former Congressman Joe Garcia in 2012. She got 31% of the vote.

On the Republican side, it’s more complicated.

Lago looks strongest on paper because of his fundraising. But nobody in the district knows “Fishy Frank” — as Diaz has coined him — because he is recently from Hialeah, where he ran for state rep once and for city council once, losing both times. He has Lopez endorsing him — but that could also be the kiss of death, because she is loathed for her involvement in pushing the Live Local Act and might lose her own election.

He’s also pushed the Trump thing, putting out a mailer that makes it look like the POTUS endorsed him. He didn’t.

Read related: ‘Fishy Frank’ Lago goes fishing for Trump voters in HD 113 GOP primary

And Barreiro can’t be counted out. Low-turnout Miami elections are practically designed for candidates with longstanding name recognition. And he has experience charming the viejito voters.

Then there’s Diaz. Ladra has to admit, she really loves the way he talks. He’s real. Authentic. Like my neighbor and my friends. He is not slick. He does not mince words. He will slip in a fuck or a shit in an Instagram post like it’s part of everyday life, because it is. He seems way more representative of the typical District 113 voter than either of the other two suits. He’s not beholden to anyone — except his wife and little girl.

It would be wonderful to see him in Tallahassee.

But he has to survive the Aug. 18 primary. And November is where HD 113 gets really interesting.

Despite the fact that Lopez is Republican, this isn’t some ruby-red Florida House district where the Republican primary is effectively the general election. Nor is it a deep-blue Miami-Dade seat where Democrats can start measuring the curtains after August.

Donald Trump carried HD 113 by roughly five points in 2024. But this is 2026 and Trump is not as loved as he used to be, even in Little Havana, so Democrats consider it winnable.

And the district itself is an unusual political animal — affluent, highly educated, heavily Hispanic and packed with independent voters who don’t necessarily behave like Republican voters in Naples or Democratic voters in Broward.

Key Biscayne isn’t Coral Gables. Coral Gables isn’t the City of Miami. That means the nominees in the general may matter more than the letter behind their name.

Romero Roses could potentially run as an establishment-friendly, business-oriented Democrat against whichever Republican survives. Mendoza-Routt would offer voters a much clearer generational and ideological contrast.

Lago would bring money and business support into November. Barreiro would bring decades of political baggage — and decades of political relationships. And Diaz could still surprise everybody with his fresh talk and no-nonsense approach.

But before any of them start worrying about November, they have to survive Aug. 18.

Five candidates. Two primaries. One open House seat.

And no incumbent.

For political junkies, that’s like Christmas in August.

This kind of independent, government watchdog reporting is crucial to transparency and democracy. And more so every day. Help shine a light on the darker corners of our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.