Democrat lawyer Adam Gentle announces U.S. House run against Mario Diaz-Balart

Adam Gentle, a 39-year-old anti-corruption lawyer in South Florida and political newbie, launched on Monday a campaign against U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, targeting the Republican congressman over his recent vote against a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Gentle, who calls himself a “capitalist Democrat,” announced his candidacy for Florida’s 25th Congressional District in 2022 with a four-minute video ad that features footage from the Everglades and elsewhere in the district along with videos of the violent confrontations outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, as supporters of former President Donald Trump were attempting to enter the building. The district runs through parts of Hendry and Collier counties and West Miami-Dade County, including majority Hispanic cities of Hialeah, Doral and Miami Lakes.

“We need representation that does not step on our Constitution,” Gentle says in the video with Spanish subtitles that was provided to the Miami Herald. “You deserve to have a voice in Florida and Washington that hears and listens to you and tells you the truth. We are done with the nonsense.”

Originally from Michigan, Gentle studied at Columbia University in New York and attended George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. He previously lived in Los Angeles, where he worked with charitable organizations like The Young Americans, an organization that promotes “understanding and goodwill among people throughout the world” through the performing arts. As an attorney, according to his campaign website, Gentle has also represented low-income renters facing eviction in D.C. and contributed to an amicus brief on juvenile sentencing reform on a case that made it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If elected, Gentle, who says he supports “compassionate capitalism,” would be the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to Congress from Florida. He filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on April 16, 2021. He lives with his husband in downtown Miami, outside of the district’s current limits.

Diaz-Balart, who has been in his seat since he was elected in 2012, voted on Jan. 6 to decertify election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona, pointing to “numerous reports of irregularities and last-minute changes that violated basic constitutional requirements” in several states, despite no credible evidence showing widespread irregularities or fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Last week, Diaz-Balart also voted against creating a commission to investigate the U.S. Capitol attack. Two other Miami Republicans, U.S. Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez, both first-term members in the House of Representatives, broke ranks with other Florida Republicans and voted in favor of the initiative.

The bill, if passed by the Senate, would create an independent 10-member commission that would draft proposals to secure the Capitol and create an official recounting of the riot.

“This is an inflections point in our history our failure to act now to address the causes of the January 6th insurrection will lead this nation down the same path as Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba,” Gentle said in a statement. “I will not stand on the sidelines and watch elected officials repeat proven lies to further their corrupt scheme. They have tested our Constitution and the will of the American people. No mas.”

While Florida is gaining one seat in the U.S. House during next year’s redistricting process, according to initial Census reapportionment figures released last month, demographic experts expect fast-growing Central Florida is likely to benefit from Florida’s 28th Congressional District. More detailed population data that includes race, ethnicity and specific municipal numbers are set to be released this fall.