Republican Bruno Barreiro and Democrat Gloria Romero Roses are competing for House District 113 in the Nov. 3 general election. The seat has been vacant in practice since former Rep. Vicki Lopez left last November for a Miami-Dade County Commission seat. Gov. Ron DeSantis did not call a special election, so the district has had no House member through this year’s regular session and several special sessions.
The district includes Key Biscayne, parts of Coral Gables and Miami, and neighborhoods such as Brickell, Downtown, Little Havana, Coconut Grove and PortMiami. Republicans hold 33% of its 78,384 registered voters, compared with 28% for Democrats, according to the county’s Oct. 1 report. Voters with no party or a third party make up the largest group, at 39%. Trump carried the district by about 5 points in 2024 after Biden won it by 12 points in 2020.
Barreiro, 60, is a home healthcare executive who served in the House from 1992 to 1998 and spent 20 years on the County Commission. He has lost several recent bids for Congress, the Legislature and a county vacancy. He said he would seek state funding, curb overdevelopment and push for toll relief and condo safety reform. Critics, including the Miami Herald editorial board, have pointed to his poor attendance record on the commission and his 2009 support for the Marlins stadium financing deal.
Romero Roses, 55, invests in businesses and previously ran an assisted living operation she sold in 2020. She has worked in affordable housing development and grant administration. She wants to lower the workforce housing income ceiling under the Live Local Act to $75,000 and expand access to health care and child care.
Through Oct. 9, Barreiro had about $104,000 left after lending his campaign $399,000. Romero Roses had about $81,500 with less than a month to go. Paola Vazquez del Mercado is also running as a write-in candidate, but she has filed no finance reports since May and has received 21 failure-to-file notices from the state.
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