Mario Diaz-Balart
Candidate for: United States Representative, FL 25th District
Party: Republican
Office: Representative (R–FL 25th District) since 2013
Previous office: Representative, FL 21st District (2011–2013
Mario Rafael Díaz-Balart Caballero (born September 25, 1961) is a Republican U.S. Representative from Florida. He has represented a district in the Miami area since 2003, currently numbered as the 25th district. His current district includes much of southwestern Miami-Dade County, including the city of Hialeah, as well as much of the northern portion of the Everglades.
Díaz-Balart was born in 1961 in Fort Lauderdale, to Cuban parents, the late Cuban politician Rafael Díaz-Balart, and his wife, Hilda Caballero Brunet. His aunt, Mirta Díaz-Balart, was the first wife of Fidel Castro. Her son, and his cousin, is Fidel Ángel “Fidelito” Castro Díaz-Balart. His uncle is the Cuban-Spanish painter, Waldo Díaz-Balart. His brother, Lincoln Díaz-Balart, represented Florida’s 21st District from 1993 to 2011. He has two other brothers, José Díaz-Balart, a journalist, and Rafael Díaz-Balart, a banker.
He attended the University of South Florida to study political science before beginning his public service career as an aide to then-Miami Mayor Xavier Suárez in 1985. In the same year, he changed his political party affiliation from Democratic to Republican.
He was elected to the Florida House in 1988 and moved to the Florida Senate in 1992. He returned to the Florida House in 2000. During his second tenure in the House, he chaired the redistricting committee.
