Bruno Barreiro

Barreiro was first elected into public office in 1992 to serve in the Florida House of Representatives representing District 107. While serving in the Florida House of Representatives, he chaired the Tourism Committee.

On June 2, 1998, Barreiro was elected to serve as Miami-Dade County Commissioner representing District 5. He served as Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners in 2007 and 2008. He was re-elected for subsequent terms to represent constituents in portions of the Cities of Miami and Miami Beach, as well as the communities of Little Havana, Downtown, and South Beach.

Barreiro was a key figure behind the Marlins Park baseball stadium in Miami, which attracted controversy due to its enormous cost to Miami-Dade County and benefit to Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria.[2]

In 2018, the Miami Herald described Barreiro as "a powerful figure in Miami politics."[3]

In May 2017, Barreiro announced he would run for Florida's 27th congressional district in the 2018 election, after incumbent Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced she was retiring.[4]

On March 31, 2018, Barreiro resigned his County Commission seat to run for Congress, following a change in Florida's resign-to-run law.[5] Barreiro timed his resignation so that a special election would be called, in which his wife Zoraida could win his seat. Bruno used over $95,000 of his own campaign funds to support Zoraida, but Zoraida lost the June special election to Democratic candidate Eileen Higgins.[3]

Barreiro's support of his wife's campaign weakened his ability to campaign against his eight challengers for the Republican House nomination, of whom the strongest was TV journalist Maria Elvira Salazar.[3] Salazar ultimately won the primary election in August, in which Barreiro was the first runner-up.[6]