Manny Díaz Jr.

Manny Díaz Jr. (born March 2, 1973) is a Republican member of the Florida Senate, representing the 36th district, which encompasses the Hialeah area in northwest Miami-Dade County, since 2018. He served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives from 2012 to 2018.

This article is about the Florida State Senator. For the former Mayor of Miami, see Manny Diaz (Florida politician).
Manny Díaz Jr.
Member of the Florida Senate
from the 36th district
Assumed office
November 6, 2018
Preceded byRene Garcia
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 103rd district
In office
November 6, 2012 – November 6, 2018
Preceded byRedistricted
Succeeded byCindy Polo
Personal details
Born (1973-03-02) March 2, 1973
Hialeah, Florida
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Jennifer "Jenny" Díaz
ChildrenDominic, Madison, Grayson, Lexington
Alma materSt. Thomas University (BA)
Nova Southeastern University (MS)
ProfessionTeacher, school administrator

Background

Díaz was born in Hialeah, graduated from Miami Springs High School, and attended St. Thomas University, where he graduated with a degree in human resources in 1994. He then attended Nova Southeastern University, graduating with a Master's degree in educational leadership in 1998.

Education career

Teaching

Díaz first worked as a teacher and a coach at Miami Springs High School. From 1995 to 1999, he taught social studies at Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School, where he spent two years as an assistant principal. In 2013, he was assistant principal at George T. Baker Aviation School, a public vocational school near Miami International Airport.

Díaz denied allegations of drug use and inappropriate conduct with female students during his teaching career.[1]

In 2012, Díaz filed for bankruptcy, citing $1.3 million in debts.[2]

Academica

Since 2013, Díaz has worked for Academica, a for-profit charter school operator founded by Fernando Zulueta.[3] He is chief operating officer of Doral College, a private junior college owned by the company.[4][5]

State government

Díaz championed school privatization while a member of the state legislature. In 2022, he was rumored to be the leading candidate to succeed Richard Corcoran as the education commissioner of Florida.[6][7]

Political career

In 2010, Díaz ran for the Miami-Dade County School Board, but lost to Perla Tabares Hantman in the primary, receiving only 39% of the vote to her 61%.[8]

Florida House of Representatives

In 2012, following the reconfiguration of Florida House of Representatives districts, Díaz ran in the newly created 103rd District in the Republican primary against former State Representative Renier Díaz de la Portilla and Alfredo Naredo-Acosta. Despite the nastiness and perceived closeness of the race,[9][10] Díaz ended up defeating his opponents by a wide margin, winning 55% of the vote to Díaz de la Portilla's 39% and Naredo-Acosta's 6%. He faced only write-in opposition in the general election and won by a wide margin.

Florida Senate

In 2018, Díaz was elected to the Florida Senate District 36, defeating Democrat David Perez 54.1% to 45.9%. His re-election bid received substantial funding from health care and education companies.[11][12]

During the 2022 legislative session, Díaz was the sole Senator to vote against the congressional redistricting plan, thus signaling his allegiance to Governor Ron DeSantis.[13]

Political positions

Education

While serving in the legislature, Díaz sponsored legislation that would "allow more private online education providers, some from outside Florida," to offer classes to public school students; allow students to take classes in public virtual schools in other counties, and require the Florida Department of Education "to create a catalogue of online offerings."[14]

He rejected allegations of conflict of interest when, in 2017, he sponsored, along with Richard Corcoran and Michael Bileca, legislation that directed $140 million of public funds to charter schools controlled by the three men and their wives.[15]

Díaz sponsored 2020 legislation that significantly expanded publicly-funded vouchers for private schools.[16]

Public health

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Díaz opposed COVID-19 vaccine requirements. In 2021, Díaz also said that he wanted to "review" other vaccine requirements, such as those for mumps and measles. By September 2021, Díaz had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.[17]

Culture wars

In 2022, Díaz co-sponsored HB7, "anti-woke" legislation backed by Governor Ron Desantis.[18]

Personal

Díaz's second wife, Jennifer, works in Miami-Dade charter schools. They married on December 11, 2010.[19] She is vice-chair of the governing board of the Tallahassee Classical School, affiliated with Hillsdale College.[20] They have three children. Díaz's son Dominic, from his first marriage to Linet Gonzalez, played baseball at Longwood University.[21]

References
  1. Wright, Colleen; Ceballos, Ana (January 14, 2021). "State Sen. Manny Díaz accused of inappropriate behavior as Hialeah-Miami Lakes teacher". Miami Herald. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  2. Gurney, Kyra (27 October 2016). "How the political clout of a charter school mega-company could be at risk in Florida". Miami Herald. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  3. McGrory, Kathleen. "Lawmaker championing charter school bill has ties to industry". Miami Herald. No. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  4. Gurney, Kyra. "How the political clout of a charter school mega-company could be at risk in Florida". Miami Herald. No. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  5. Sweeney, Dan (21 October 2016). "Lawmaker's role in unusual charter school college is at center of state House race". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
  6. Nicol, Ryan (March 15, 2022). "Manny Diaz ends Session with wins on education, health care bills". Florida Politics. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  7. Solochek, Jeffrey S. (10 March 2022). "Head of Florida department of education leaving. Is Sen. Manny Diaz in line for job?". Miami Herald. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  8. "August 24, 2010 Primary Election". Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  9. Caputo, Marc (August 13, 2012). "A voter's guide to Miami-Dade's nasty primaries". Miami Herald. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  10. De Valle, Elaine (August 10, 2012). "Hialeah AB fraud: Working for Manny Diaz, Jr.?". politicalcortadito. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  11. Scheckner, Jesse (15 December 2021). "Manny Diaz Jr. taps health care sector in $74K November haul for SD 36 defense". Florida Politics. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  12. Geggis, Anna (13 September 2021). "Unopposed Manny Diaz posts $43,500 August haul". Florida Politics. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  13. Ogles, Jacob (4 March 2022). "Florida Legislature approves congressional redistricting plan despite Gov. DeSantis veto threat". Florida Politics. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  14. McGrory, Kathleen (May 6, 2013). "State lawmakers increased education budget by $1 billion". Bradenton Herald. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  15. Santiago, Fabiola (18 May 2017). "Some of your legislators are profiting at the expense of public education". Miami Herald. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  16. Nicol, Ryan (17 June 2020). "Bill expanding school vouchers heads to Governor's desk". Florida Politics. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  17. "Manny Diaz wants to 'review' existing non-COVID-19 vaccine mandates". Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government. 2021-09-23. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  18. "CS/HB 7 - Individual Freedom". Florida House of Representatives. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  19. @QtJenD (2011-12-11). "#HappyFirstWeddingAnniversary to my Smookems @VoteMannyDiazJr I love you with all my heart!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. "Our Governing Board". Tallahassee Classical School. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  21. "2018 Baseball Roster". Longwood Lancers. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.