Carlos Lopez-Cantera (born December 29, 1973) is an American politician who served as the 19th

lieutenant governor of Florida The lieutenant governor of Florida is a statewide constitutional office in the Government of Florida, executive branch of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the second highest-ranking official in the state government. The lieutenant governor is el ...

from 2014 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Lopez-Cantera represented the 113th district in the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

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 Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous coun ...

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 Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, the son of

Cuban Cuban or Cubans may refer to: Related to Cuba * of or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban Americ ...

Carlos Lopez-Cantera and Esther "Shelly" Smith Fano. His father is

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and his mother is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. 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 An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

degree from

Miami-Dade Community College Miami Dade College (MDC) is a public college located in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1959, MDC operates eight campuses and numerous outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest institution in the Florida Colleg ...

in 1994 and a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

with a minor in political science from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

in 1996.

Political career

Carlos Lopez-Cantera offering favorable remarks promoting the House budget

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

. 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 Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers; born December 1, 1952) is an American attorney, businessman, politician, and United States Navy, Navy veteran serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of F ...

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 The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

to replace retiring Senator

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...

, 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 Adam Hughes Putnam (born July 31, 1974) is an American politician and conservationist who served as the 11th Florida commissioner of agriculture from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the U.S. House of Repre ...

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 Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida and is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Cora ...

-based group. In 2024, the organization filed for a permit in north

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

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 A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

in 2016 at the

Western Wall The Western Wall (; ; Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: ''HaKosel HaMa'arovi'') is an ancient retaining wall of the built-up hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Its most famous section, known by the same name ...

Electoral history

References

External links

U.S. Senate campaign websiteFlorida House of Representatives ProfileProfile at Project Vote Smart
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez-Cantera, Carlos 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 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