Donald Trump names Daniel Perez as Ambassador to Brazil in latest round of appointments

He spent the past two years leading the Florida House, publicly battling Gov. Ron DeSantis while working to move the Legislature toward a more coequal footing. Now, House Speaker Daniel Perez may soon be South America-bound.

President Donald Trump has nominated Perez as U.S. Ambassador to Brazil — the largest country in South America and one the United States’ most significant trade and diplomatic partners in the region.

The nomination was part of a broader batch of appointments Trump sent to the Senate, which also included four other Florida nominees for Ambassador and federal law enforcement posts.

Perez’s nomination comes just under nine months after the White House urged Perez to run for Florida Attorney General, an undertaking he declined to pursue that would have put him on a collision course with DeSantis appointee James Uthmeier.

A first-generation Cuban American who grew up in the Miami-Dade County suburb of Westchester, Perez has represented House District 116 since winning a 2017 Special Election.

He was elected as a future Speaker two years later and in November 2024 assumed the post, solidifying himself as one of the most powerful Republicans in Tallahassee — and, for much of his tenure, one of DeSantis’ most formidable intraparty opponents.

Under Perez, the House overrode DeSantis’ budget vetoes, investigated and dismantled First Lady Casey DeSantis’ questionable Hope Florida charity, replaced DeSantis’ Special Session on immigration enforcement with one the Legislature devised and, ahead of the 2026 Session, introduced a fleet of bills with concrete property tax proposals while the Governor stalled on issuing his own.

When DeSantis fumed at the House’s open attempt to regain a coequal footing with the executive branch, Perez called the Governor “emotional” and prone to “temper tantrums” while stressing, “I consider him a friend. I consider him a partner.”

Under Perez, the House — along with the Governor’s Office and Senate — also followed through on Trump’s call for mid-decade redistricting.

Perez, who is set to leave the House in November due to term limits, holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and a law degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

He was named Florida Politics’ 2025 Politician of the Year.

Florida Politics contacted Perez for comment Monday, when Trump transmitted his appointments, but did not receive a response by press time.

Also nominated Monday was former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Johnson-Carroll as Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, lawyer Douglas Holder as Ambassador to Bulgaria, and Maria Lopez as Chair of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals for a six-year term — a position that has sat vacant since early 2025 after Trump’s previous nominee for the role, also a Floridian, was withdrawn without explanation.

Trump also nominated Secret Service agent Seth Reister as U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Florida, and Mark Abreu as Ambassador to El Salvador.

Born in Port of Spain, Johnson-Carroll served as Florida’s 18th Lieutenant Governor from 2011 to 2013 under Gov. Rick Scott, becoming the first Black person, woman and Trinidadian American elected to the office.

Before that, she served in the Florida House and spent 20 years as a naval officer. In 2012, she led an Enterprise Florida trade mission to Trinidad and Tobago that yielded $30 million in trade between the two nations.

All nominations are subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

The nominations add to what has become an extraordinary concentration of Florida-connected power across the Executive Branch under Trump’s second term. A Florida Politics analysis last year catalogued 40 prominent Floridians who held influential positions in Washington and at diplomatic posts worldwide.

They included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz, Panama Ambassador Kevin Marino Cabrera and former Attorney General Pam Bondi.