Drew Wilson
Miami attorney and Democrat Ivette Gonzalez officially announced her campaign in House District 103 on Monday after filing for the seat last week.
“Like most Floridians, I’m fed up with the dysfunction that has taken hold of Tallahassee. It’s apparent that solving the problems facing our communities has taken a backseat to petty partisanship,” Gonzalez said. “The people of Miami-Dade and Broward deserve elected leaders who will put aside ego-driven politics in favor of working together to enact good public policy that moves our state forward.”
The St. Thomas University School of Law alumna said she will push for higher public school funding, expanded access to health care, criminal justice reform and better transportation infrastructure if she makes it into office.
Gonzalez, who filed for the seat Oct. 19, will have to make it past incumbent Republican Manny Diaz in order to win the Miami-Dade County seat.
Though Democrats have more registered voters than Republicans in District 103, the seat has not been competitive since it was redrawn in 2012. Diaz took nearly 100 percent of the vote against a write-in candidate in 2012, and in 2014 he trounced Democrat Benjamin De Yurre with 58 percent of the vote.
De Yurre was overmatched in fundraising in 2014, raising just $10,000 to Diaz’s $308,000 haul. If Gonzalez wants to make it competitive in 2016, she already has a bit of catching up to do: Diaz had about $85,000 on-hand for his campaign through the end of September.
Gonzalez’s first campaign finance report, which will cover Oct. 19 through the end of the month, is due in mid-November.
