FEATURED CANDIDATE - DAVID RIVERA

Flordia's 25th Congressional District - DONATE NOW

On November 5, 2002, David Rivera was elected to the Florida House of Representatives from Miami-Dade County representing District 112; a position to which he has subsequently been re-elected three times. Currently, Representative Rivera serves as the Chairman of the House Full Appropriations Committee. This committee oversees the state of Florida’s budget in areas such as education, transportation, housing and economic development. As a representative he helped balance the State of Florida’s budget eight times.

As a member of the Florida House, Representative Rivera helped secure long sought after medical and law schools for his alma mater, Florida International University. Rep. Rivera also brought much-needed insurance reform to the state, in the wake of a number of catastrophic hurricanes. Rep. Rivera also helped overhaul the property tax system in Florida, easing the burden on hard-working Florida taxpayers. Rep. Rivera helped strengthen the laws against child predators and gave greater protection to these innocent victims. Rep. Rivera also gave our working families a much-needed sales tax holiday for back-to-school shopping.

Prior to being elected to the Florida House, Representative Rivera worked with Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB). OCB was managed under the auspices of the U.S. State Department and was responsible for administrative and management oversight of Radio and TV Marti, the official U.S. government broadcast services to Cuba. Previous to his services at the U.S. Information Agency, Mr. Rivera worked as Public Affairs Director for the Washington-based Valladares Foundation. The Valladares Foundation, an international human rights watch-group, was headed by Ambassador Armando Valladares, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC).

Prior to his work with Ambassador Valladares, Representative Rivera served as a writer and researcher with the Washington D.C. offices of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF). While with CANF, Representative Rivera researched and wrote on such issues as human rights, terrorism, political-economy, Soviet-Cuban relations, and international trade. He came to the CANF after serving as a legislative assistant to United States Senator Connie Mack and as Political Director for Miami-Dade County, Florida, during Senator Mack’s successful 1988 campaign. Previously, Representative Rivera was South Florida Political Director for Jack Kemp’s 1988 presidential campaign. In 1996 he served as the Dole-Kemp campaign manager for the southern region of Florida.

Representative Rivera has also served as a public affairs, legislative, marketing and management consultant for various political and business organizations. He is currently the chairman of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County.

Representative Rivera graduated with honors from Florida International University (FIU) with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Public Administration. He has served as an adjunct professor in FIU’s School of Policy and Management. His articles on US-Cuba relations have been published in The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. Representative Rivera has appeared before organizations and the media to provide commentary on issues of concern to the South Florida community.

Born in New York, N.Y., Representative Rivera has resided in Miami, Florida for 35 years. He is a member of several civic, community and professional organizations, including the Association of Hispanic Public Administrators. Representative Rivera is fluent in the Spanish language and during his tenure at the U.S. State Department he held a Top Secret National Security Clearance from the U.S. government.

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