Rep. Danny Alvarez cares more about farmers than you would think.
Alvarez, a Hillsborough County Republican, believes a nation is only as safe as its food sources are secure.
And national security is one of Alvarez’s top priorities.
“Protecting farmers means you and I never have to worry about where we get our food from,” he said.
Alvarez, whose father escaped Cuba as a child, is transparent about being cautious and wants Florida to boost its defenses. It’s not something the state can leave to the federal government, he said.
The News Service of Florida has five questions for Rep. Danny Alvarez, edited for brevity and clarity:
Q: What is your biggest win from this session?
ALVAREZ: For me, it was the 2026 farm bill. The farm bill was chock-full of very important pieces that when you add them all together, make Florida’s commitment to farming and farming security a vital thing for us. A lot of people don’t recognize it.
They think ‘Man, you sure talk about farmers a lot for a guy who’s never farmed a thing in your life.’” And that’s true. I’m all about security, national security, and our farming and our farmland and protecting farmers means you and I never have to worry about where we get our food from.
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Why is that important to us? Because if we don’t do that, eventually we will have eroded our capacity, our land and our ability, and we’re going to have to bend our knee to our enemies to get our food, and that puts us in a spot I’m just not willing to be in.
There’s lots of conservation stuff in there. Development has been a big issue. I’m not Mr. Anti-Development, but we did put some roadblocks in for development of small cities. We took some of the power back to make sure those small cities had to vote unanimously in order to make sure that certain developments get built.
I’m not trying to get in the way of business, but I am trying to do a balance of preserving Florida, having rural lands to make sure that we’re farming and providing the inventory we need to bring home affordability.
Q: Is there something that didn’t pass this year that you’re looking to file again next year?
ALVAREZ: As we look at modern threats against Florida, our borders don’t protect us, our oceans don’t protect us.
The internet brings the enemy into your house on a regular basis. So there’s a couple of bills that I ran that we knew would be legacy bills that would be culture-changing bills.
One was the unification of 911 systems. That’s on year two. I gave myself about a five-year guide slope. But I’ve already got the stakeholders coming to the table, wanting to contribute; they understand this is where we’re going.
The other one was a counterintelligence team bill that was flying through, and then ran into a controversy that I believe was from a major misunderstanding, and I understand why.
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We’re going to establish a counterintelligence team within law enforcement, which means all the same rules and regulations in the Constitution that cops have to follow on a daily basis have to be followed, but the target is terrorist nation states and bad actors, like Iran, China, Russia and Cuba. And we’re looking at narco and transnational gangs, which have also been designated terrorists.
Those are major, substantial threats to Florida’s economy. You don’t have to beat Florida by attacking us with guns when you can take out our infrastructure. You don’t have to beat us when you can just drop some fungus into our water supply, and you’ve killed or harmed half the city of Tampa.
What we were going to do is dedicate a team that can’t be pulled away at FDLE for DUIs and other investigations because this threat is so big and so constant.
Q: What are your priorities for 2027?
ALVAREZ: As a state representative, you think, oh, if I get elected all four times, that’s eight years. It’s not, it’s a minuscule amount of time.
We’re only there two months out of the year up in Tallahassee.
In that time, if you’re all over the board and not focused, you’re going to get a couple of things done, but really, I’m not there to waste time. I’m away from my family, I’m away from my business, all those things are sacrifices, so we want to make sure it counts.
Those safety and security efforts, that’s really what I’m going to focus on, and agriculture efforts, and I’ll sprinkle some infrastructure stuff along the way.
Q: What are your thoughts on what’s happening with Cuba?
ALVAREZ: This is a passion answer for me. Being the son of Cuban immigrants, my dad was a Peter Pan, he came to America by himself with his brother. In our house, we lived and breathed anti-commie taking over Cuba.
It was my parents' and my grandparents' dream to make sure they went back to their own country, while America has become mine.
And I’ve always had this notion that I would never want to sacrifice the son of another from Iowa just because Castro took over and communists took over our country and we couldn’t keep it. That was hard to justify.
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But as Cuba’s influence has grown over the region, they are one of the most substantial threats to the US. Not because they bring guns against us, but they’ve become everything else. They’re the No. 1 exporters of intelligence to China, to Russia and to Iran.
They have these global terrorist networks that helped in Venezuela. Remember when we raided Venezuela, who did we end up killing? We ended up killing 30 Cubans who were the elite bodyguards to the Venezuelan president.
I’m not sure I'm still willing to risk the son of a mother from Iowa, but at a minimum, the bar has been elevated. I think our attention definitely needs to be on them, not because my parents need a home to go to. Their home is in Miami now. It’s because it’s a substantial threat to the U.S.
Q: What is your favorite thing about Tallahassee?
ALVAREZ: Coming from a busy county, it’s dense, it’s as Florida as Florida gets in modernity. Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, we’re very used to overpopulation in traffic. When you go to Tallahassee, it's like you’re transported into Old Florida, and I really like it a lot. There’s a slower pace, although traffic is building.
There’s undulating hills, there's a ton of pollen, which to be honest with you, should be in the “I don’t like” column. At the beginning, I was like, “What are we doing in this town?”
Now, if I ever got a job that took me to Tallahassee, I’d love to raise my family in a town like that. Tallahassee is like a little secret gem that I don’t think even people there realize what a great deal it is.
