Three candidates seek Florida House District 118 vacancy. Here’s who’s running [Miami Herald]

Candidates in an upcoming special election for the Florida House District 118 seat say that affordable housing, homeowners insurance and transportation are key issues that they will seek to address if elected.

Three candidates are running in the Dec. 5 special election to fill the vacancy left by Republican Juan Fernandez-Barquin when he was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to be the clerk of the courts and comptroller for the county in June.

READ MORE: DeSantis names Republican ally to succeed Miami-Dade’s longtime Democratic clerk

The candidates are: Mike Redondo, a personal injury lawyer who is a Republican, Johnny Farias, a small-business owner and former community council member who is a Democrat, and Francisco De La Paz who is semi-retired and not affiliated with a party.

The majority of voters in District 118, a strip of unincorporated areas in southwest Miami-Dade, are Hispanic and Republican.

Redondo, 38, received an endorsement from Daniel Perez, a Republican who is set to be the next speaker of the House. Farias, 54, got an endorsement from former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, according to Florida Politics.

Redondo and Farias were interviewed by the Miami Herald Editorial Board, De La Paz did not meet with the Editorial Board but spoke with a Herald reporter later on.

Who is Mike Redondo?

Redondo graduated from Florida State University’s law school and is the founder and managing partner of Redondo Law, a local firm specializing in accident and injury law.

He said he’s the son of Cuban immigrants and that he was born and raised in the district, but recently moved back earlier this year after living elsewhere. He said he became interested in running for office once the vacancy was announced.

“I believe I’ve been incredibly fortunate and blessed with the opportunities that I’ve had living in my district growing up in South Florida, and I want to ensure that those opportunities continue to exist,” said Redondo.

Homeowners insurance, affordable housing

Redondo said the most important issues that need to be addressed are homeowners insurance and affordable housing. However, he said he wants to give the policies that the Florida House recently passed that aim to fix these issues, such as the Live Local Act and the Insurer Accountability Act, more time to work.

He said that realistically, residents’ premiums are not going to drop in a year, but more can be done to provide residents with immediate solutions.

“We can do more in terms of providing immediate assistance, incentivizing people, whether that’s through direct payment assistance for things like down payments or rental assistance, or trying to incentivize again, the construction of more affordable housing, so people can actually stay in South Florida and not sell their homes and move out,” Redondo said.

Climate change

Redondo said protecting the Everglades should not be a “political issue.” He said that he also supports providing local resources to help combat climate change issues such as flooding.

Transportation

He said that if he becomes the representative for the district he’d also like to work on budget allocations for transportation solutions.

“I will say transportation is obviously a big deal in my district. My office happens to be right now in Coral Gables so the only way I can get here is Turnpike north and 836 east and that’s a very, very common route of travel for many people in my district … if you work anywhere close to here, [transportation] is a significant challenge … you’re paying tolls every single day, twice a day,” Redondo said.

Jobs

Redondo said that he’d like to focus on creating more educational or training opportunities for residents who are interested in “blue collar jobs,” which are a “critical need” for the state as it continues to grow and to provide constituents more economic movement.

“I think many younger folks were told certain types of jobs were just not good, that you shouldn’t look at any of these essentially blue-collar trades. I happen to personally know people who own blue-collar businesses who are millionaires, and they do very, very well,” Redondo said. “I think a part of that is educational, not necessarily in a school setting, per se, but just making sure that we are providing training opportunities, or again, educational opportunities for younger people or anybody really to develop these skills in areas that we need.”

Who is Johnny Farias?

Farias is a Navy veteran, an electrician and a father of five children. He said he has been involved in politics as a Miami-Dade Community Council member. He said the most important issue to him is the cost of living and home insurance in District 118, where he said he has been a long-time resident.

He previously ran in 2022 for District 118 representative against Fernandez-Barquin and lost — he received 31.6% of the vote. Farias said he has a shot to win as a Democrat because the issues he wants to tackle impact everyone in the district regardless of their party affiliation.

“I’ve approached them saying that this isn’t a party issue, that the insurance crisis and the cost of living impacts all of us,” said Farias.

The Herald’s Editorial Board asked if Farias had ever been arrested and if he had ever filed for bankruptcy, to which Farias replied that he had filed for bankruptcy one time and that he was arrested for a domestic dispute after getting into a fight with his daughter.

The Miami-Dade court dockets show that Farias was arrested for battery in 2005. He said that the court ordered him to attend a “morality class” for the incident.

“I’m a father of five. I mean, thank God, I’ve only had one major issue with my daughter, but you know, that was when she was 16 and in high school – I’m an old-school parent,” Farias said.

Homeowners insurance and affordable housing

Farias said he believes that the Florida House isn’t doing enough to address the homeowners insurance issue and wants to see more done.

“The last three sessions — even though the special session that they had last year was to address insurance — haven’t done anything. They’ve actually just bettered the insurance companies and hurt the insurers,” Farias said.

On the topic of affordable housing, he said that he’d like to see that the Sadowski Housing Trust Funds, which collect monies from a portion of the documentary stamp tax paid on all real estate transactions, continue to be honored.

“We need to make sure that the money for affordable housing is earmarked and doesn’t get touched,” Farias said.

Budget allocations

He said that if he’s chosen as the District 118 representative he’d also like to make budget allocations for a seniors trust to support elderly residents and also focus on infrastructure to get better transportation for the area.

“When I was a councilman, I used to get a lot of calls from seniors that couldn’t afford rent anymore or they were gonna get put on the street. I would love to see a senior’s trust,” said Farias.

Climate change

He said while the Florida House has taken measures to protect and support the environment, more can be done with climate change issues such as flooding.

“We know that we have a lot of streets that are flooded, and they need to get more pumps and working pump stations,” said Farias.

Who is Francisco De La Paz?

De La Paz, 67, did not meet with the Editorial Board. He has no website for his campaign and has raised no funds. He said he’s decided to run because he feels the real issues that residents are facing on a local level are not being addressed.

“We’re losing the local decisions to the powers that be in Tallahassee,” De La Paz said.

He said he’s semi-retired and has been a part of the construction industry for many years. He said he was previously a community council member.

De La Paz said he’s campaigned in a “non-traditional” way by talking to community groups and neighbors.

He said that he’s the best candidate for the position because he’s running as an independent and can reach all types of people.

“I can express the needs of the district without being subjected to a party,” De La Paz said.

He said he believes that the community needs more affordable housing and that more needs to be done to hold insurance companies accountable.

Early voting

With only a few days remaining, around 6,619 residents have already cast their vote as of Wednesday.

Early voting will continue to take place through Sunday, Dec. 3, at the South Dade Regional Library, the Westchester Regional Library and the West Kendall Regional Library. On Thursday and Friday, the polls are open from 8 a.m to 6 p.m and on Saturday and Sunday the polls are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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