Alex Santana

By Andrew Meacham

For the last decade, Alexander Santana has pushed himself toward politics like a man in a hurry to catch a train. In high school he secured his first internship, at the district office of U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in his native Miami. He continued internships through college, in every semester at The Catholic University of America except the first one, and that was only because his parents insisted that he prove he could handle his course load before taking on more.

In early 2020, the year he graduated, Santana interned in the Washington office of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who called Santana a “highly motivated, goal-oriented individual who works tirelessly to succeed in whatever tasks he undertakes.” His duties included conducting hourlong tours of the U.S. Capitol building, from the old Senate chamber to the Rotunda.

Santana, 25, spent a dizzying 2022 working for a Tallahassee lobbying firm, then the State University System of Florida and the Supreme Court of Florida, all while taking overloads to complete Florida State University’s Master of Science, Applied American Politics and Policy (MAPP) program in 11 months.

In November, the month before he graduated, he joined Floridian Partners as a government affairs coordinator, where he has quickly made himself indispensable. On any given day, he might be asked to track a bill or an entire issue, its historical origins and sponsors, the people it is designed to help and the primary arguments for or against its passage. He follows legislative committees and writes concise summaries of their work while also performing necessary administrative tasks, such as setting up meetings between clients and legislators, or group meetings.

“What impressed me was that he just has a maturity to his approach to what we do in the political world,” said Charles Dudley, the managing partner for Floridian Partners. “He’s got what I call the ‘two ears, one mouth’ preferential approach, waiting until it’s appropriate to ask a question.”

That humble demeanor contrasts with a sterling résumé. After Ros-Letinen, Santana interned with U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, where his tours of the Capitol building started, and the U.S. Department of Justice, where he sometimes attended oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court.

He worked with the Department of the Treasury in the spring of 2020, arranging travel and proofreading briefing books for Secretary Steven Mnuchin as the office was responding to an accelerating COVID-19 pandemic. “Mr. Santana thrived, and performed with aplomb, during an unusually stressful period,” wrote David Dwyer, counselor to the undersecretary for international affairs, on Santana’s behalf.

Throughout his journey, Santana has used politics as a way to learn about government. “I have learned to like doing research,” he said, “to learn why is this issue important to the people sponsoring (a bill) or working on it? How does it make a change or a difference? If it’s something I’ve never researched before, I like to see what I can do to make myself better aware of it.”

When the time comes, he can delineate pending issues and the stakeholders clearly.

“He’s also a very good writer,” said Dudley, who serves as General Counsel and chief lobbyist for Florida Internet and Television. “While oral communication is critically important, as are the nuances with social media and other digital communications, there is still, in my opinion, a strong need for someone who is an effective communicator in the written form.”

It is not a stretch to believe the seeds of Santana’s curiosity about American democracy were planted before his 1997 birth in Miami. Both sets of grandparents emigrated from Cuba in the early 1960s, a fact he links to national pride and appreciation for the opportunities here.

“I think it’s important to recognize that and to honor that, and realize that they came from another place because there was something wrong with the previous homeland,” he said.

Santana’s paternal grandfather founded the small business his father still runs with an uncle. That taught him the American Dream is real. Santana attended Catholic University in part because it was in Washington, where he double-majored in political science and history. He studied early American history, the Civil War and the tumult culminating in the 1960s, all of which informs his perspective on today.

“When you watch TV,” he said, “every channel has its own point of view and then some people are not willing to listen to other people, no matter what they say. But we just need to stay focused on what unites us as a country, our common values like a free press and freedom of speech.”

He turned on the television Jan. 6, 2021, expecting to see Vice President Mike Pence certify the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. The first thing that struck him was the sheer number of people milling about the Capitol building he loved.

“At first I was like, ‘How can they have all those people there for a tour or whatever?’” he said. His tours had been for small groups. Over the next few hours, he watched with dismay as that crowd smashed windows, vandalized congressional office space and attacked Capitol police.

“It was a very sad day,” he said. “I know we’ve had difficult times but that just wasn’t right.”

No disruptions, however, could deter Santana from his goal. He packed three straight semesters of work into a calendar year, joining Floridian Partners as his graduation approached. The 2023 Legislative Session lay just ahead, and he wanted to be able to give all his energies to that.

His attitude and preparation had made him an attractive candidate for the job, said Toby Philpot of Floridian Partners, himself a former “30 Under 30” Rising Star who specializes in health care.

“He’s got an impeccable résumé and that’s really what kind of drew us to him,” Philpot said. “If you look at that, I can’t think of another peer or contemporary his age who has embraced every opportunity to build a strong and diverse résumé. And all of those experiences pay dividends to the counsel and experience he provides to our client base.”

And so a decade of continuous effort resulted in a job with a prestigious firm, straight out of graduate school. The running man finally caught the train, with time to fasten his seatbelt and open a newspaper.

“Luckily, it all worked out,” he said.