Alex Díaz de la Portilla


Alex Díaz de la Portilla is a Cuban-American politician from Florida. As of November of 2019, Díaz de la Portilla currently serves as a City of Miami Commissioner for District 1, which includes the predominantly Hispanic areas of Flagami, Allapattah, and parts of Little Havana. A Republican, he was a member of the Florida Senate from 2000 to 2010, representing parts of Miami-Dade County. Previously, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1994 until his election to the Senate.

Early life and career

Díaz de la Portilla was born and raised in the Little Havana community of Miami. His career in politics began in 1990, when he was ran for the Florida House of Representatives. He lost the Republican primary, and lost again to Carlos Manrique when he ran for another House seat in 1992. Two years later, he challenged Manrique, and was successful.
Díaz de la Portilla served in the Florida House from 1994 until 2000, when he was elected to the Florida Senate in a special election. He was reelected to the Senate three times. He served as president pro tempore from 2002 to 2004.

Later political career

Díaz de la Portilla ran for the Florida House of Representatives in the 112th district in 2012, but lost to Democrat José Javier Rodríguez, 53.7 to 46.3%.
In 2017, Díaz de la Portilla ran in a special election for a Florida Senate seat left vacant when Senator Frank Artiles resigned. He lost the Republican primary to Jose Felix Diaz, who lost to Democrat Annette Taddeo in the general election.
Díaz de la Portilla was a candidate for a May 2018 special election for the Miami-Dade County Commission. The Miami Herald endorsed him. No candidate secured more than 50% of the vote and the runoff that followed saw Eileen Higgins become the new County Commissioner of District 5.

Family

Díaz is one of the four children of Cuban exiles Miguel Ángel Díaz-Pardo and Fabiola Pura de la Portilla-García. His paternal great-grandfather served in Cuban Senate, while two of his sons served simultaneously in the Cuban House of Representatives. His maternal great-grandfather served as Cuban Minister of Justice.
His brothers have also held elected office:

Florida House of Representatives, 1990-1998

Florida Senate, 1999-2006

Post-Senate electoral career