Lawyer and cancer survivor Ashley Litwin Diego has entered the race to represent northeast Miami-Dade County in House District 106, vowing to bring practical leadership and bipartisan problem-solving to Tallahassee.
Litwin Diego, a Miami Beach Democrat and partner at Seitles & Litwin[1], announced her candidacy this week, framing her campaign as a fight for fairness, opportunity and stability for South Florida families.
“I’m running to bring fresh perspective and real solutions,” she said in a statement.
“To lower property insurance rates, to protect our coastlines and waterways from climate change, to ensure safe boating, to advance common sense gun safety, to help families manage the cost of living in our community and to protect the fundamental rights that define who we are as Floridians. This is home. It has given my family everything, and I am ready to give back. To stand up and fight — because I can no longer sit by and watch.”
Litwin Diego’s platform centers on delivering what her campaign calls “practical solutions” for HD 106 residents, including lowering insurance costs, holding insurers accountable while protecting renters and tackling a growing statewide cost-of-living crunch[2] that is particularly pronounced in South Florida.
She also promises to fight for stronger gun laws, more robust boating safety measures and work to expand access to affordable health care. “As a breast cancer survivor, she knows firsthand how important access to affordable, quality healthcare is,” her campaign said, “and (she’ll) work to expand access so no one has to choose between their health and financial security.”
A seasoned trial lawyer, she has practiced law for nearly two decades, focusing on defending constitutional rights and promoting criminal justice reform. Her work earned her recognition[3] among the National Trial Lawyers’ “Top 40 Under 40” and a finalist spot for the Daily Business Review’s “Most Effective Criminal Lawyer.”
She’s also no stranger to unusual cases, including one involving divers freeing sharks and a goliath grouper from what they believed was an illegal fishing line that made several[4] headlines[5] this year. President Donald Trump ultimately intervened in the case, pardoning the two defendants.
Beyond her legal work, Litwin Diego serves as President of the Board of Directors for Transition Inc.[6], a Miami nonprofit that has helped more than 35,000 returning citizens find jobs and stability after incarceration.
“For almost 20 years I’ve fought for the rule of law, for people who needed someone to show them compassion. I have focused on bringing people together and using common sense to find common ground, instead of focusing on divisiveness,” she said.
“On a practical level, I know the law — I know how laws are written, interpreted, and even sometimes misused. In Tallahassee, that skill matters. I’m ready to bring my legal training, compassion, and common sense to Tallahassee. Because let’s be honest, our politics could use a little more of all three.”
Litwin Diego is a graduate of the University of Michigan and University of Chicago Law School, where she was President of the Law School Democrats and a winner of the Ann Watson Barber Outstanding Service Award.
Her campaign said her “commitment to serving her community is deeply rooted in the teachings of her Jewish faith, that we should leave the world better than we found it.”
She lives in the Biscayne Point[7] neighborhood of Miami Beach with her husband, a Cuban immigrant, and their three children. State records show she previously lived in nearby Surfside for about a decade, before which she lived in Miami Beach’s Mid-Beach[8] neighborhood.
Litwin Diego is the second Democrat to enter the HD 106 race after former Miami-Dade School Board member Lucia Báez-Geller. Both hope to unseat twice-elected Republican Rep. Fabián Basabe.
Florida records show that in addition to her campaign account, she has opened a political committee called Friends of Ashley Litwin Diego PC[9] chaired by influential Democratic consultant Christian Ulvert.
HD 106[10] covers a coastal strip of Miami-Dade between Miami Beach and Aventura.
References
- ^ Seitles & Litwin (www.seitleslaw.com)
- ^ cost-of-living crunch (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ recognition (www.seitleslaw.com)
- ^ made several (www.palmbeachpost.com)
- ^ headlines (www.palmbeachpost.com)
- ^ Transition Inc. (www.transition-miami.org)
- ^ Biscayne Point (biscaynepoint.com)
- ^ Mid-Beach (en.wikipedia.org)
- ^ Friends of Ashley Litwin Diego PC (dos.elections.myflorida.com)
- ^ HD 106 (www.myfloridahouse.gov)