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Carlos Lopez-Cantera
19th Lieutenant Governor of Florida
In office February 3, 2014 – January 7, 2019
Governor	Rick Scott
Preceded by	Jennifer Carroll
Succeeded by	Jeanette Nuñez
Property Appraiser of Miami-Dade County
In office January 1, 2013 – February 3, 2014
Preceded by	Pedro Garcia
Succeeded by	Pedro Garcia
Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 113th district
In office November 2, 2004 – November 7, 2012
Preceded by	Manuel Prieguez
Succeeded by	David Richardson
Personal details
Born	(1973-12-29) December 29, 1973 (age 50) Madrid, Spain
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Renee ​(m. 2005)​
Children	2
Education	Miami Dade College (AA) University of Miami (BBA)

Carlos Lopez-Cantera (born December 29, 1973) is an American politician who served as the 19th lieutenant governor of Florida from 2014 to 2019.

A member of the Republican Party, Lopez-Cantera represented the 113th district in the Florida House of Representatives from 2004 to 2012; he served as Majority Leader during the final two years of his term. Lopez-Cantera was elected property appraiser of Miami-Dade County on August 14, 2012. On January 14, 2014, Gov. Rick Scott appointed Lopez-Cantera to the post of Lieutenant Governor of Florida. He served out the remainder of the unexpired term of Jennifer Carroll and was elected to a full term in November 2014.

Early life and education

Lopez-Cantera was born in Madrid, Spain, the son of Cuban Carlos Lopez-Cantera and Esther "Shelly" Smith Fano. His father is Catholic and his mother is Jewish. He was born two months prematurely and returned with his parents to reside in Miami, Florida, once he was healthy enough to travel. He earned an Associate of Arts degree from Miami-Dade Community College in 1994 and a Bachelor of Business Administration with a minor in political science from the University of Miami in 1996.

Political career

Florida House of Representatives

In 1997, Lopez-Cantera was a facilitator for the Florida Senate's criminal justice committee. In 2002, he made an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives. Two years later, Lopez-Cantera won his first election to the Florida House of Representatives to the 113th District in November 2004, and was successively reelected in 2006, 2008 and in 2010 when he defeated US Navy veteran and rising democratic party star Alex Cruzet. He was House majority whip from 2008 to 2010 and the House Majority Leader from 2010 to 2012.

Lopez-Cantera was twice elected by his colleagues from Miami-Dade County to be the chairman of the Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation from 2011-2012. On August 14, 2012, he became the second property appraiser to be elected by the citizens of Miami-Dade, a county with a population of more than 2.5 million people and almost 1,000,000 properties.

Lieutenant Governor of Florida

Governor Rick Scott announced Lopez-Cantera's appointment as Lieutenant Governor of Florida on January 14, 2014. Lopez-Cantera was appointed to serve the remainder of the unexpired term of Lieutenant Gov. Jennifer Carroll, who had resigned the post on March 12, 2013. In November 2014, as Scott's running mate, Lopez-Cantera was elected to a full term as lieutenant governor. He served in that role until 2019.

On July 15, 2015, Lopez-Cantera announced his 2016 candidacy for United States Senate to replace retiring Senator Marco Rubio, who was running for president of the United States. However, Lopez-Cantera withdrew from the race following Rubio's June 22, 2016 announcement that he would seek reelection to the Senate. Lopez-Cantera declined to run for Governor of Florida in the 2018 election, instead supporting Adam Putnam in the Republican primary.

Post-political career

After leaving office, Lopez-Cantera went into the private sector, and became the leader of Jax Industrial Three Ltd, a Coral Gables-based group. In 2024, the organization filed for a permit in north Jacksonville for a project estimated at $8.86 million to complete.

Personal life

Lopez-Cantara's mother is Jewish while his father is Catholic. Lopez-Cantara — whose wife (since 2005), Renee, is also Jewish, as are his two daughters — celebrated his bar mitzvah in 2016 at the Western Wall.

Electoral history

See also

• List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States

References

1. "Our Campaigns - Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser Race - Aug 14, 2012". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
2. "Our Campaigns - FL State House 113 Race - Nov 02, 2004". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
3. "Our Campaigns - FL State House 113 Race - Nov 02, 2010". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
4. "Florida House of Representatives - Carlos Lopez-Cantera - 2016 - 2018 ( Speaker Corcoran )". www.myfloridahouse.gov. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
5. Campbell, Janie (August 15, 2012). "Election Results, Miami-Dade 2012 Primary: Winners, Losers, And A Power Broker On A Boat". Huffington Post. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
6. "Carlos Lopez-Cantera highlights his family's Cuba history in first campaign video - Florida Politics". floridapolitics.com. March 2, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
7. Office, Governor Rick Scott's. "Carlos Lopez-Cantera Inaugurated As Florida's 19th Lieutenant Governor". Archived from the original on July 2, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
8. ^ Steve Bousquet; Marc Caputo (January 14, 2014). "Gov. Rick Scott announces Carlos Lopez-Cantera as new lt. governor". Miami Herald. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
9. "Meet Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera". Archived from the original on May 7, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
10. "Content no longer available". nl.newsbank.com.
11. "Florida House of Representatives - Carlos Lopez-Cantera - 2016 - 2018 ( Speaker Corcoran )". www.myfloridahouse.gov. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
12. "Fla. lieutenant governor to be sworn in". WESH. February 3, 2014.
13. Tia Mitchell, Mary Ellen Klas (March 13, 2013). "Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigns amid state, federal probe of non-profit veterans group". miamiherald.com.
14. Rachel Weiner (March 13, 2013). "Florida Lt. Gov. resigns amid racketeering probe". washingtonpost.com.
15. "2014 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Florida".
16. Kirkl, Jordan (June 9, 2020). "Former Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera backs Tom Fabricio for HD 103". The Capitolist.
17. "Carlos Lopez-Cantera says he's running for Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat in Florida". The Miami Herald. July 15, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
18. DeBonis, Mike; O'Keefe, Ed; Sullivan, Sean (June 22, 2016). "Marco Rubio will seek Senate reelection, reversing pledge not to run". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
19. Contorno, Steve (August 6, 2018). "Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos López-Cantera endorses Adam Putnam in GOP primary". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
20. "Lopez-Cantera seeks permit for spec warehouse at JAX Airport Logistics Center". Jax Daily Record. July 9, 2024. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
21. Mazzei, Patricia (July 15, 2015). "Running on Florida's record, Carlos Lopez-Cantera launches campaign for Marco Rubio's Senate seat". Miami Herald. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
22. "Meet Carlos Lopez-Cantera: Florida's first Jewish governor (for five days)". JNS.org. November 19, 2018.

External links

• U.S. Senate campaign website
• Florida House of Representatives Profile
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Appearances on C-SPAN

v t e Lieutenant governors of Florida
Kelly Gleason Weeks Day Stearns Hull Bethel Mabry Watson* Mikeson* Hull* Beth* Haris* Thompson* Mayo* Thompson* Thompson* Osborne Adams Williams Mixson Brantley MacKay Brogan Jennings Kottkamp Carroll Lopez-Cantera Nuñez
* acting

• 1973 births
• 21st-century American Jews
• 21st-century members of the Florida Legislature
• American people of Spanish-Jewish descent
• American politicians of Cuban descent
• Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Florida
• Jewish American state legislators in Florida
• Latino conservatism in the United States
• Lieutenant governors of Florida
• Living people
• Miami Dade College alumni
• Politicians from Madrid
• Republican Party members of the Florida House of Representatives
• Spanish emigrants to the United States
• 20th-century Spanish Jews
• 20th-century Spanish politicians
• University of Miami Business School alumni