Nilda Pedrosa, who led notable Florida Republicans to victory, dies at 46
Nilda Pedrosa, a top-ranking federal official from Miami-Dade County who led a number of Florida Republicans into victory, handed away on Saturday night time after battling most cancers. She was 46.
Pedrosa, who served seen roles on U.S. Senate campaigns and Congressional places of work alike, is persistently described by buddies and former colleagues as a form and stubbornly optimistic companion. Throughout her work in politics, colleagues say Pedrosa was charismatic and labored nicely with Democrats and Republicans alike. She was passionate concerning the struggle in opposition to human trafficking, baby abuse, and human rights violations in Cuba.
Pedrosa is survived by her husband, Eliot, her mom, father, and her brother Rick Rodriguez. She additionally leaves behind her twin toddlers, Emma Rose and Elias, ages 2 and a half.
Pedrosa grew up in Miami. She was born at Mercy Hospital to a Cuban American father and a Puerto Rican mom. She graduated from Our Lady of (*46*) Academy in 1992, and later attended Miami Dade College and Florida International University, the place she graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in 1996.
At FIU, she met her husband-to-be, Eliot Pedrosa, in a Constitutional Law class wherein they have been each enrolled.
“So many people are reaching out to me with so many stories saying that she lit up their lives like she lit up mine,” Eliot Pedrosa stated. “We were college sweethearts.”
In 1999, she graduated from New England Law in Boston. She went on to function chief of employees to U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bond. She was additionally a senior adviser to former U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, changing into his level individual on immigration reform.
Bondi says the 2 turned “sisters” in the course of the time they labored collectively from 2013 to 2019 and that she admired Pedrosa’s optimism. During one workplace winter journey to South Dakota, Bondi recollects, the 2 Florida girls have been excited to see The Great Plains blanketed in snow. But though the temperature was within the single digits, it wasn’t truly snowing, a lot to their disappointment.
So, Nilda being Nilda, Bondi stated, she edited “falling snowflakes” into a photograph of the 2 of them and despatched it to Bondi.
“She would find the best in everything and she would always bring out the best in everyone,” Bondi stated. “Nilda had a heart of gold. Everyone who met her loved her.”
Bondi stated Pedrosa was behind her workplace’s anti-human trafficking efforts, such because the workplace’s annual convention on the topic. Bondi and Pedrosa each made a visit to Mexico City in 2014 to go to a shelter for moms who survived sexual assault and for kids conceived from sexual violence.
“She cared so deeply… she went anywhere in the world she could to fight human trafficking,” Bondi stated.
Pedrosa additionally labored as a coverage adviser within the presidential marketing campaign of former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2016.
She had most lately been named performing Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of State below the administration of former President Donald Trump. Up till President Joe Biden was inaugurated, she was the highest-ranking lady at the State Department and the second Hispanic to function Under Secretary.
She additionally served because the White House liaison at the U.S. Department of State.
Her longtime pal, former U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, stated Pedrosa’s function in electing Florida Republicans to Congressional workplace was essential to many candidates.
“I don’t think there was a single Republican candidate who was able to get elected years ago in Miami Dade without Nilda’s enthusiastic support,” Ros-Lehtinen stated in a textual content message. “Nilda was a proud Republican, but she worked well with Democrats. She was political without being bitterly partisan.”
In a tweet, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart stated he was “heartbroken” to hear of Pedrosa’s passing.
“Nilda Pedrosa was my Chief of Staff for many years — she touched the lives of many and leaves behind an everlasting legacy. Praying for her husband, children, & entire family,” he stated.
Beyond her official duties, Eliot Pedrosa stated his spouse was keen about charities like Amigos For Kids, a nonprofit devoted to preventing baby abuse and neglect, and organizations just like the Cuban American Bar Association.
“In the last few years, I saw that passion for her children,” Eliot Pedrosa stated. “I’ve seen her touch so many lives because it was her nature to want to help people. And so she just did all the time.”
Miami Herald employees author David Smiley contributed to this story.
