Carlos Guillermo Smith

Carlos Guillermo Smith (born December 31, 1980) is a community activist, lobbyist, and politician from Florida. He is a Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives. Upon his election in 2016, Smith became the first openly gay Latino to serve in the Florida Legislature.

Smith was born in Florida to parents who immigrated to South Florida from Canada in 1979. His mother being from Canada, and father from Peru, Smith was the first member of his family to be born in America.

Smith attended Spanish River High School in Boca Raton, FL, where he graduated in 1999. In 2003, he graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in business administration. Following graduation, he worked for eight years and became manager of Men’s Wearhouse stores in Florida and Georgia.

In 2011, Smith was hired as a legislative aide for Florida House Representative Scott Randolph. He served as communications director and senior advisor to Joe Saunders during his successful 2012 bid for the Florida House of Representatives in the 49th district. From 2012-2014, Smith served as Saunders' policy chief and ran his legislative office. In 2013, he was elected chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party. He resigned his chairmanship of the Orange County Democratic Party in the summer of 2015 to focus on his bid for the seat Randolph and Saunders had held before him.

Smith was employed by political advocacy group Equality Florida as its governmental affairs manager from January 2015-November 2016. While holding the position, he worked on behalf of Equality Florida at the Florida Capitol to compromise with Republican lawmakers on the issue of the controversial HB 43, also known as the Pastor Protection Act, which reinforces that churches and religious clergy can legally refuse to participate in same-sex marriages. Smith secured a success for Equality Florida by reaching agreement with Republican lawmakers that the law would not be expanded to allow private business to refuse service to members of the LGBT community, essentially neutralizing the bill. Smith has also advocated on behalf of Equality Florida for the passage of a non-discrimination bill in Florida to protect LGBT individuals in areas of housing, employment, and public accommodations.

On June 1, 2015, Smith announced his candidacy for the 49th district seat in the Florida House of Representatives. He ran to take back the seat for Democrats from Republican representative Rene Plasencia. Plasencia, who had won the district in an upset over Joe Saunders in 2014, chose to run in the neighboring 50th district, which leans more Republican. On May 3, Smith officially qualified to be on the ballot by collecting the required number of petitions. At one point, Smith faced two opponents for the seat: Republican candidate Amber Mariano and a no party affiliation candidate, Shea Silverman. Shortly before the qualifying deadline, however, Mariano moved her campaign to the 36th district, leaving Smith without a Republican opponent. Mariano went on to win election in her new district.

Despite lacking a Republican opponent, Smith raised more than $150,000 for his campaign and went on to defeat Silverman with 69 percent of the vote.

Over the course of his 2016 campaign, Smith received endorsements from prominent progressive politicians, organizations, and unions, including Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, former Florida House Representative Joe Saunders, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, and the Florida Professional Firefighters State Association.