Daniel Anthony Perez

Republican Party

Florida House of Representatives District 116

Tenure

2017 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

8

Compensation

Base salary

$29,697/year

Per diem

$175/day for a maximum of 60 days.

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Personal

Birthplace

New York

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign X

Personal YouTube

Personal LinkedIn

Daniel Anthony Perez (Republican Party) is a member of theFlorida House of Representatives, representingDistrict 116. He assumed office on October 8, 2017. His current term ends on November 3, 2026.

Perez was sworn in asState Speaker of the House on November 19, 2024, succeedingPaul M. Renner (R).^[1]

Perez received a bachelor's degree in political science and government from Florida State University in 2009, and a law degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2012.^[2][3] Perez began his career working as an associate attorney in private practice at the Downs Law Group from 2012 to 2014 and at Cole, Scott, & Kissane from 2014 to 2018. In 2018, Perez began working as in-house counsel for Doctors HealthCare Plans, a Florida-based health plan specializing in Medicaid.^[4][5]

Perez first ran for theFlorida House of Representatives in2017, winning a special election to representDistrict 116. Perez defeatedJose Mallea (R) 55% to 45% in the primary, and defeatedGabriela Mayaudon (D) 66% to 34% in the general. As of 2025, Perez's campaign website said, "during his time in office, he has been instrumental in championing key legislation pertaining to child welfare, healthcare, family stability, education and election integrity."^[6]

Republican representatives officially elected Perez as Speaker-designate in September 2023, and he was sworn in on November 19, 2024, following the2024 elections.^[7] In a speech at his swearing-in, Perez said, "[Floridians] need to know that our state’s insurance laws are not being written by and for the insurance companies. They want to own their homes, not be tenants to private equity firms. They want to open up a small business without jumping through endless bureaucratic hoops. They want to pick their own doctors and send their kids to good schools. And they want elected leaders who are on their side."^[8]

At the start of Perez's tenure, Florida had aRepublican trifecta. Perez came into conflict with Gov.Ron DeSantis (R) on several issues in 2025. In January, he, along with Senate PresidentBen Albritton (R), ended a special session called by DeSantis to vote on an immigration bill that the governor supported, then called their own special session to vote on an immigration bill supported by legislative leaders.^[9] While drafting the state's budget during the regular session, Perez and DeSantis came into conflict over tax policy, with Perez wanting to cut sales taxes and DeSantis wanting to cut property taxes.USA Today's Gray Rohrer wrote, "As he seeks to cement his legacy in his last two years in office, DeSantis’ agenda is getting stymied on several fronts. And House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, is the one throwing most of the roadblocks in his path as the annual legislative session, now underway, approaches the halfway mark."^[10]

Biography

Daniel Anthony Perez was born in New York, New York. As of January 2020, he lived in Miami, Florida. He received his bachelor's degree from Florida State University and his law degree from Loyola University New Orleans College. His career experience includes working as an attorney. He has served as the vice-chair for the Gaming Control Subcommittee. He was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2017.^[11]

Committee assignments

2023-2024

Perez was assigned to the following committees:

• House Budget Committee
• House Rules & Ethics Committee,Chair

2021-2022

Perez was assigned to the following committees:

• House Judiciary Committee,Chair
• Public Integrity & Elections Committee (decommissioned)
• House Budget Committee

2019-2020

Perez was assigned to the following committees:

• Education & Employment Committee

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Florida House of Representatives District 116

IncumbentDaniel Anthony Perez defeatedNicolas Ramos in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 116 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Daniel Anthony Perez (R)	68.7	52,964
	Submit photo	Nicolas Ramos (D)	31.3	24,110

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 77,074
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled.Nicolas Ramos advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 116.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. IncumbentDaniel Anthony Perez advanced from the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 116.

Campaign finance

Endorsements

2022

See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

The general election was canceled.Daniel Anthony Perez (R) won without appearing on the ballot.

2020

See also: Florida House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Florida House of Representatives District 116

IncumbentDaniel Anthony Perez defeatedBob Lynch andManuel Rodriguez in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 116 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Daniel Anthony Perez (R)	62.8	48,804
	Submit photo	Bob Lynch (D)	37.2	28,924
	Submit photo	Manuel Rodriguez (No Party Affiliation) (Write-in)	0.0	11

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 77,739
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled.Bob Lynch advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 116.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Gabriela De Jesus (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 116

IncumbentDaniel Anthony Perez defeatedGabriel Garcia in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 116 on August 18, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Daniel Anthony Perez	58.8	9,177
		Gabriel Garcia	41.2	6,438

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 15,615
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2018

See also:Florida House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Florida House of Representatives District 116

IncumbentDaniel Anthony Perez defeatedJames Harden in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 116 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Daniel Anthony Perez (R)	57.3	31,824
	Submit photo	James Harden (D)	42.7	23,692

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 55,516
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 116

James Harden advanced from the Democratic primary for Florida House of Representatives District 116 on August 28, 2018.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	James Harden

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 116

IncumbentDaniel Anthony Perez defeatedFrank Polo Sr. in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 116 on August 28, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Daniel Anthony Perez	80.5	8,696
		Frank Polo Sr.	19.5	2,110

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,806
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2017

FL House District 116

See also:Florida state legislative special elections, 2017

A special election for the position ofFlorida House of RepresentativesDistrict 116 took place on September 26, 2017. There was a special primary election on July 25, 2017. The filing deadline for this election was June 6, 2017.^[12]

Candidates who successfully filed to run in this election includedDemocratGabriela Mayaudon andRepublicansJose Mallea andDaniel Anthony Perez.^[13] Mayaudon was the only Democrat to file, so she automatically advanced to the September 26 special election. Mallea and Perez faced off in the Republican primary on July 25.

Perez defeated Mallea in the Republican primary.^[14][15] Perez won the September 26 special election with over 65 percent of the vote.

The seat became vacant followingJose Felix Diaz's (R) resignation to run in the special election forFlorida State SenateDistrict 40 that was also scheduled on September 26, 2017. To comply with Florida'sresign-to-run law, Diaz made it so that his resignation was effective on the day of the September 26 election.^[16]

Florida House of Representatives, District 116, Special Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Daniel Anthony Perez	65.8%	8,800
	Democratic	Gabriela Mayaudon	34.2%	4,581
Total Votes				13,381
Source:Florida Department of State

Florida House of Representatives, District 116, Special Republican Primary Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Daniel Anthony Perez	54.8%	3,579
	Republican	Jose Mallea	45.2%	2,950
Total Votes				6,529
Source:Florida Department of State

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Daniel Anthony Perez did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Daniel Anthony Perez did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Daniel Anthony Perez did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Florida

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Florida scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

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