Bruno Barreiro is going back to Tallahassee — if he can get past Gloria Romero Roses in November.
And if it wasn’t going to be Tony Diaz, Ladra is kinda glad it’s Bruno.
The former Miami-Dade commissioner and former state representative won the Republican primary for Florida House District 113 Tuesday night in a nail-biter against Frank Lago, taking 42.36% of the vote to Lago’s 41.09%. That’s just 72 votes separating first and second place —extraordinarily close, but not close enough for an automatic recall.
Barreiro told Ladra Tuesday night that Lago had already called to congratulate him, so that doesn’t sound like he’s going to challenge it.
Tony Diaz, the young anti-establishment candidate Ladra had developed a soft spot for, finished third with 16.55%, or 944 votes. Ouch.
But before anybody writes Diaz’s political obituary, don’t. He’s 31 years old. He ran against two men with considerably more money and political connections, on a campaign centered largely around knocking on doors, railing against overdevelopment and special interests and telling anyone who would listen that the Live Local Act has been a disaster for neighborhoods. He went against two establishment machines with humor and candor in a grassroots campaign and a real desire to serve his community.
Ladra suspects we haven’t heard the last of him. In fact, he said as much on his Instagram account.
“The mission is still clear. I’m going to keep calling out corruption and I’m going to keep being a problem for all the people who want to steal from the Miami politics,” Diaz said, congratulating Barreiro. “Lastly, I do want to take a moment to celebrate the fact that ‘Fishy Frank’ lost, proving the age old thing that you can throw a lot of money, but if you’re unlikeable, no-one is going to vote for you.
“I heard that not even his mother voted for him.”
Read related: Miami-Dade limps into Election Day with 12.5% turnout — runoffs looming
We are definitely going to take a closer look at those numbers — precinct by precinct — because there is a story hiding in there somewhere about where Barreiro won, where Lago won and whether all those increasingly desperate attack mailers Lago sent against both Bruno and Tony actually did anything besides fill recycling bins.
But that’s tomorrow’s story. Today belongs to Bruno. And to Gloria Romero Roses, who defeated Justin Mendoza-Routt, 56.31% to 43.69%, in the Democratic primary.
Barreiro’s victory is particularly interesting because Lago was supposed to have the all the advantages. Era el niño lindo. He raised more money. He had the Miami Herald endorsement. He had the endorsement of former HD 113 Rep. Vicki Lopez, who vacated the seat after being appointed to 
the Miami-Dade County Commission. That may not have been the golden ticket Lago thought it was.
Barreiro’s response to that endorsement during the campaign turned out to be rather prophetic. Endorsements are not votes, he said. And he wasn’t wrong.
And Lago’s barrage of attacks on Diaz may have been aimed at the wrong guy. While Lago was busy trying to convince Republican voters that the 31-year-old Silver Bluff candidate was a secret Democrat threat, Barreiro quietly walked through the middle and snatched the primary.
Barely. But barely counts.
Now comes the much more interesting race. HD 113 voters now get a very clear choice in November: Bruno Barreiro or Gloria Romero Roses.
And these aren’t two political newbies.
Read related: Two more jump in: Bruno Barreiro, Gloria Romero Roses join HD 113 race
Barreiro, 60, has probably forgotten more about local politics than some elected officials will ever learn. He was first elected to the Florida House in 1992, representing District 107, and served there until 1998, when he moved to the Miami-Dade County Commission. He stayed on the county dais for two decades, representing District 5 until 2018, when he left to run for Congress. He lost. He signed up to run for Miami commission against then-commissioner Joe Carollo, but withdrew, thinking better of it.
So, if he wins in November, this would actually be Barreiro’s second stint in the Florida House. Of course, the Tallahassee Bruno left in 1998 bears almost no resemblance to the Tallahassee he’d return to in 2026. Waaaaay different.
The Republican Party is different. The Legislature is different. The governor’s relationship with local governments is different. And preemption — Tallahassee telling cities and counties what they can and cannot do — has practically become a legislative sport.
Still, Barreiro wouldn’t need directions to the Capitol.
He knows the legislative process. He knows county government. He knows municipal government. He knows how appropriations work and, 
perhaps more importantly for Miami-Dade, he knows where the bodies are buried — figuratively speaking, people. Relax.
During the campaign, Barreiro explicitly sold that experience, saying HD 113 didn’t need somebody who had to “learn on the job.” He also said he could be a rainmaker in Tallahassee, bringing state dollars back to Miami-Dade and working with local governments.
That experience apparently matters.
“My base knows me. They know that I’m available. They know that I work hard of them. they know that I live in the district,” Barreiro told Political Cortadito. That last one might be a jab at Lago who moved into Brickell Key only a few years ago.
Whether voters like what Barreiro plans to embrace in an increasingly polarized Tallahassee is another question. Because November is not really going to be about experience. Both candidates have enough of it. And Barreiro’s long history in politics could also work against him.
No, this campaign is going to be about direction.
Barreiro has already positioned himself against some of the Tallahassee policies that have infuriated residents and local governments in his district — particularly Live Local. He called the state’s signature affordable-housing law a “knee-jerk reaction” that encourages overdevelopment without requiring the infrastructure to support it. That’s significant in HD 113, which includes Brickell, The Roads, Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, Little Havana and other 
neighborhoods where development and density aren’t abstract policy discussions.
They’re what residents scream about at City Hall until midnight.
Barreiro isn’t Tony Diaz, who basically wanted to take Live Local out back and kill it. But he clearly understands the anger behind it.
At the same time, he may be a moderate Republican, but he’s still a Republican, running in a state where Republicans are firmly in control and waging culture wars instead of taking care of business. Like Lago, he sent a mailer out that had a photo of him and a photo of Donald Trump, who did not endorse anybody in this race.
So, he’s apparently okay with the Epstein Trump files.
Read related: ‘Fishy Frank’ Lago goes fishing for Trump voters in HD 113 GOP primary
Romero Roses offers voters a very different path.
A real estate professional, affordable-housing advocate and longtime community activist, Romero Roses came into the race talking about the affordability crisis, childcare, elder care, insurance and what she calls “smart growth.” She has an MBA and decades of experience in real estate and community development, and her work caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s eventually led her into the assisted-living business and advocacy on elder-care issues.
She also isn’t new to politics.
Romero Roses ran for Congress in 2012 against Republican David Rivera — yes, that David Rivera — so this isn’t her first rodeo either.
And she’s made no secret of the fact that she thinks Tallahassee has its priorities screwed up, arguing that while Miami families are struggling with housing, insurance and the cost of living, state politicians have been spending too much time fighting culture wars.
There you have it.
Two experienced candidates. Two very different political parties. Two very different ideas about what Tallahassee should be doing.
And a district that isn’t quite as easy to pigeonhole as either party might like.
Republicans have a registration advantage in HD 113, but it’s not overwhelming, and a big chunk of the district’s voters aren’t registered with either major party. In other words, this is not a seat either party should take for granted.
Republicans will argue that Barreiro’s experience, institutional knowledge and ability to work inside a Republican-controlled Legislature give the district a better chance of actually getting something done.
Democrats will argue that sending another Republican to Tallahassee — even one who occasionally disagrees with Tallahassee Republicans — isn’t 
going to change policies they say have undermined local control and failed to solve the affordability and insurance crises.
And that’s actually a pretty healthy choice for voters to have.
Ladra would have liked to see what Diaz could do. There was something refreshing about a candidate willing to say he “hates” Live Local “with a passion” while running in a Republican primary. He wasn’t polished. He wasn’t establishment. And he didn’t seem particularly interested in becoming either.
Read related: Miami decides to fight Live Local Act — and Damian Pardo leads the charge
But voters chose Barreiro.
And between the other two Republicans in this primary, Ladra can live with that.
Now HD 113 gets the race it probably should have had all along: Bruno Barreiro vs. Gloria Romero Roses.
Experience vs. experience. A guy who knows Tallahassee because he’s already served there versus a woman who says Tallahassee needs to change direction.
And after almost a year with no representative at all, voters in House District 113 will soon get to decide which direction they want to go.
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.
Bruno Barreiro survives GOP squeaker, faces Gloria Romero Roses for HD 113 added by Ladra on
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