Darren Soto

Meet Darren Soto

Darren Soto was elected to Congress in 2016 to represent Florida’s Ninth Congressional District, which includes all of Osceola County, and parts of Orange and Polk Counties. Darren is proud to be the first person of Puerto Rican descent to serve in Congress from Florida.

Darren Soto is an accomplished lawyer, legislator, environmentalist, and proud to represent the diverse, hardworking people of Central Florida in Congress. After graduating law school, Darren went into practice in Orlando to stand up for people in the courtroom (and play music on the side). He became involved with the Young Democrats and was elected to the Florida House at the age of 29. He served for five and a half years in the Florida House of Representatives before he was elected to the Florida Senate, where he served for four years. During his nearly 10 years in the Florida Legislature, Darren worked to bring high-paying, high tech jobs to Central Florida, protect our clean air, land, and water, expand and protect health care, help families facing foreclosure, and improve education.

In Congress, he serves on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee and the Natural Resources Committee where he fights to increase access to healthcare for all Americans, combat climate change, protect clean air and water, boost American technology and innovation, and protect consumers.

During his nearly eight years in the House, he has brought millions in federal funding back to the district for disaster relief, to improve infrastructure for SunRail, I-4 expansion and other new roads, to provide food and housing assistance, to support local agriculture, to boost high tech high paying jobs, and help small businesses and the unemployed. In Congress, he’s also passed major legislation to increase hurricane readiness, protect Florida’s coasts from foreign offshore oil drilling, preserve marine life, honor veterans and civil rights heroes, map sinkholes, designate the Pulse National Memorial, provide Medicaid parity to Puerto Rico, and grant Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to Venezuelan refugees.

On the Energy and Commerce Committee, Darren directly worked on many sections of the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan, and the new Infrastructure Law. These efforts were critical to help us recover from the pandemic and upgrade infrastructure for fast growing Central Florida to fix the traffic, ensure clean air and water, and protect our quality of life.

Darren is a graduate of Rutgers University and George Washington University School of Law.

IN CONGRESS

As an experienced legislator, I have delivered for Central Florida.

Bills I've gotten passed during my time in Congress include:

Designating the National Pulse Memorial

Billfish and Sunfish Protection Act

Puerto Rico Medicaid Equality Bill (includes all US territories)

Venezuela TPS bill (passed House twice/President Biden Executive Order)

Hurricane Hunter aircraft bill

Foreign oil spill prevention bill

Kissimmee River Wild and Scenic River Act

Restoring Resilient Reefs Act

Seminole Tribal Lands Bill

Borinqueneers Kissimmee Post Office (Puerto Rican veterans)

Althea Margaret Daily Mills Post Office (Black civil rights leader)

I have made sure the Ninth District gets its fair share of federal funds by securing these resources for our community:

Over $1 billion in COVID-19 pandemic relief (stimulus checks, PPP small business loans, as well as housing, food, and unemployment assistance)

$233 million for Orlando International Airport upgrades (Infrastructure Law)

Hundreds of millions in Hurricane Irma relief

$2.5 million for St. Cloud clean water project

$1 million for Kissimmee Berlinsky House restoration

$1 million for new Lake Nona community center

$1 million for Hope Partnership 192 transition house

$1 million new Haines City fire station

$850,000 for Polk County Behavioral Outreach Mobile Crisis Team

$800,000 for Lake Wales Central Avenue streetscape upgrade

$500,000 for Winter Haven intermodal center dark fiber upgrade

$500,000 for Poinciana Valencia solar project

$461,000 for Osceola Schools/NeoCity high-tech internships

$4 million for the Polk Fire Department

$3 million for the University of Central Florida RESTORES Clinical Research Center for PTSD

$600,000 for the Haines City Fire Department

$63,000 for the St. Cloud Fire Department

$4 million for the National Early Child Care Collaborative Program at Nemours Children’s Health System

$2.2 million for the Kissimmee Airport

$1 million for specialty crop research to fight citrus greening

$557,000 for the Bartow Airport

$82,581 for the Winter Haven Airport

$82,581 for the Lake Wales Airport

$468,000 increase for the National Estuary Program

$500,000 increase in the National Wildlife Refuge System program to combat invasive species

Funding for police cars (Lake Hamilton)

Funding to prevent tax fraud for seniors

Funding for seniors affordable housing

Funding for tax help for the poor

I led or co-led Congressional letters and efforts driving progress on these issues:

Over $2 billion for the Beyond I-4 Ultimate Project

$1.3 billion in American Rescue Plan mortgage/rental assistance for Florida

Over $1 billion for SunRail/Brightline expansions – Connections to the airport, theme parks, and Tampa + Polk extension and weekend service

High U.S. Census response rate for FL-9

Central Florida Hurricane Irma disaster relief

Extending CF hotel vouchers

Stopping FEMA from ending food and water benefits for Puerto Rico

Pushing for disaster relief for citrus growers and cattle ranchers

Fighting for PTSD benefits for first responders

I accomplished the following major committee work on Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources:

American Rescue Plan

Infrastructure Law

CARES Act

Lower Drug Costs Now Act

ACA Enhancement Act (Obamacare)

CHIPS Act

Northern Everglades/Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Restoration

Great Florida Reef restoration

Manatee protection

Opposed offshore oil drilling

Supported Everglades restoration

Led the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) opposition to the discriminatory proposed citizenship question on the census, gerrymandering, and voting rights

Supported agriculture sensors research

Opposed food stamp cuts

Protected endangered species

Opposed President Trump’s border wall with the CHC

Advocated for DREAMers with the CHC

Opposed the Muslim ban

IN THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE

In more than nine years in the Florida Legislature, I helped bring high-paying, high tech jobs to Central Florida in the biotech, simulation, space, software, and solar industries. And did much more...

In the Florida House, I got landmark legislation and initiatives passed to:

Protect families of fallen firefighters

Prevent dangerous street racing

Create SunRail and expand Osceola Parkway

Eliminate debt and provide principal reductions to families in foreclosure

In the Senate, I got landmark legislation and initiatives passed to:

Protect victims of sexual violence

Provide IDs for deaf Floridians

Seal records of minors with minor criminal infractions

Allow DREAMers to be admitted to the Florida Bar

Increase the high stakes testing exemption for foreign language students from one to two years.

Provide notice to tenants in foreclosure

I successfully delivered critical funding that has made a difference in the lives of many people in our community:

Billions to build I-4 Ultimate, SunRail, and Poinciana Parkway

Over $20 million to create a Poinciana Valencia Campus

$20 million to continue Kissimmee River/Northern Everglades Restoration

$1 million to restore Lake Toho

I also fought to give our students the education they deserve by pushing for smaller class sizes and a minimum teacher salary of $50,000 in order to recruit and retain the best educators.

I also fought to expand Medicaid to provide health coverage to over 800,000 more Floridians and to establish Florida’s health care exchange under the Affordable Care Act.

I have championed environmental protection and fought to preserve Florida’s greatest treasures – our springs, beaches, and precious wild places. I fought to ban fracking in Florida and protect our fragile supply of drinking water.