This week, state Rep. Daniel Perez, R-Miami, was designated as the next speaker of the Florida House.
Perez will take over from state House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, following the elections in November 2024 and lead the chamber for two years.
In a ceremony this week, Perez said he supported fiscal conservatism.
“I believe in limited government because history has taught us what happens when people with power begin to think they know more than the people who gave them their power,” Perez said. “I don’t believe our state government should be at the center of people’s lives. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a role to play. Government must protect its people from dangers to life and property whether they come from threats to public safety or natural disasters. Government must ensure that we have a society of equally applied laws where any person who is willing to work hard has a chance to succeed based on their individual merit. And we also must be willing to help those who truly cannot help themselves.”
Perez showcased his Cuban-American roots, including sharing letters from members of Assault Brigade 2506 who failed to overthrow the Castro regime during the Bay of Pigs invasion.
“I grew up in Miami-Dade listening to the stories of the Cuban exiles and listening to the stories of my own grandparents. I heard the fear and anger in their voices as they described the fall of their country. I sat mesmerized at the tales of the Assault Brigade 2506, and their courage in the face of desperate odds. I came to understand how much Fidel Castro had taken from the people of Cuba, and that took root in my mind as a different kind of fear – a fear about how power can be abused and eventually turned into the poor ideology of socialism,” Perez said.
“After all, what makes the American Revolution such an interesting story is not how we won the war, but how we built our peace. Our Founding Fathers understood that man created government to keep ourselves safe, but that the authority of that government also poses the greatest risk to our freedom. They knew that power without restraint leads to tyranny, just as freedom without responsibility results in anarchy,” he added.
Perez, an attorney, was first elected to the Florida House in a special election back in 2017. He represents parts of Miami-Dade County and chairs the House Rules Committee.
