Sure, sure, there are six candidates in the Florida Senate District 40 seat vacated by Frank Artiles, who resigned abruptly in April after he was caugh making racist and sexist comments to and about colleagues. But really, most if not all of the attention is going to be on the four familiar faces in two mano a mano matches.

Ladra loves that a fellow NPA is running in the general, which may be the start of a trend (more on that later), and we really dig the nickname he got from his rugby mates. Who wouldn’t want to be represented by a Senator He-Man? And we will find out more about him in due time. Let’s concentrate on the primaries for now because this is a crazy short election cycle and there’s ony five days before absentee ballots drop.

Perennial candidate Annette Taddeo, who is leading the polls and may finally win an election — even if its just a primary — and Ana Rivas Logan, a former Miami-Dade School Board member and state rep who has been elected in parts of the district before an is arguably a better candidate for the general, are competing head to head for the Democrat Party nomination. Thanks to the self-propelled dishonorable discharge from the race by State Rep. Daisy Baez — who apparently doesn’t even live in the district she represents now. Steve Smith, whose name was already a liability before he was disqualified (or withdrew) because he was a Republican six months ago, never had a chance.

On the Republican side, former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz, the alleged GOP favorite, a legislator lobbyist and a real mama’s boy, will be up against a new and improved former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, dean of the 305 political bad boys. These two are already stealing the show. Even though Lorenzo Palomares (what happened to Starbuck?) has remained relatively relevant as Trump’s Hispanic Miami spokesman and a Spanish-language TV commentator on national politics after he lost in a congressional primary that overlaps with the district, it’s going to be hard to keep up with these two, who will have all the money and all the attention.

Because these short election cycles are ruled by one thing and one thing only: name recognition. Did we mention that absentee ballots drop next week? Candidates have precious little time to get an actual message out. As school ends. And summer begins. Naturally, the familiar faces will have a bigger advantage then ever in this race.

On the red side: Name ID vs campaign cash, old vs new

Of course, name recognition can be bought. And that is surely what Diaz is going to try to do. He’s got $825,653 squirreled away in his Rebuild Florida political action committee. That includes $84,000 collected over 10 days in May and that includes $25,000 from the insurance industry and $5,000 from AirBnB, which is facing statewide and local regulations. That was even before he raised another $278,400 in his first month as a candidate. So Pepi Diaz — who’s gotten a little help with some press conferences about condo reform — has a million bucks to build his name ID and has already started with mailers introducing him as a family man and proven legislator. Meanwhile, DLP reported loaning himself $50,000 — which I guess is easy for a guy who doesn’t pay his mortgage (see Herald story about foreclosure on his home). But did he really?  Or did he just say he loaned himself something — candidates don’t actually have to provide bank deposit slips — because he only raised $22,000 from donors? So, he may actually have less than a tenth of what his opponent has. Unless he has a PAC we don’t know about.

Diaz certainly has at least two PACs. He told Ladra he won’t use his PAC to hit DLP, but on Thursday our mailbox got this comparison piece — paid for by his own Rebuild Florida — with side by side photos that shows Alex like an angry, grainy, sepia-toned mafia kingpin and Pepi like some fresh, pink-faced Harvard kid with an American flag. The piece states that DLP raised business taxes by 300% and reduced state funds to local governments. Earlier this month, Pepi Diaz or buddies — maybe Artiles, who has been promoting him like crazy on Facebook — hit DLP with some PAC called Making a Better Tomorrow, which called Alex a career politician and closet liberal raising taxes and killing jobs. But Diaz did admit that he farmed certain stuff out to David “Disgustin’” Custin. And Ladra guesses that Custin has been busy lately with this summer bonus.

That’s three mail pieces in this house from Pepi Diaz vs. none from DLP.

Read related story: Senate 40 GOP race gets ugly fast with attack on Alex DLP

Pepi can also count on the PACs of State Rep. Jose Oliva and his fellow flying monkeys, who are secretly supporting him. Very secretly, of course. Because they don’t want to piss Dean DLP off — por si las moscas and he wins. They are not taking him for granted. As well they shouldn’t. Voters in this district have been represented by the DLPs for decades — Alex as a State Rep., big brother Miguel Diaz de la Portilla as a county commissioner and baby bro Renier Diaz de la Portilla as a Miami-Dade School Board member. They are used to seeing that name and checking it off on the ballot starting with Miguel’s commission win in 1993.

That’s probably why Alex did so well in both of the polls we know about where he has a comfy double digit lead on Diaz, who told Ladra he did not poll before qualifying but would poll soon. Of course, he’s got to work on his name id first so he can pump those numbers up for donors. But trust me, both he and the GOP establishment are looking at those numbers. Diaz de la Portilla got 51 percent positive name recognition compared to Diaz’s 26 percent. And in a two-way race, DLP beats Pepi 43-15. Ladra has been told by three Republican sources that DLP leads quite comfortably with double digits in a GOP poll as well. But they don’t seem to want to talk about it too much. It’s all very hush hush.

It’s also probably the real reason why DLP skipped the debate Monday hosted by the Women’s Republican Club Federated. He told the organizers he had a conflicting prior engagement but Ladra thinks that he had nothing to gain and everything to lose from going to a debate when he is so up in the polls. Why bother?

His focus has been on direct and personal voter contact. Ladra doesn’t know if we’ve ever seen him work so hard. He’s walking almost every day. I don’t think Alex has walked in more than 15 years. We have proof from all the photos he’s posting of voters offering him cafecitos and batidos de mamey. Because he’s also on social media — al fin. Or at least he’s got someone doing it for him. He even hit me up on Instagram. Instagram! And he is posting photos of himself with voters regularly. This, while Pepi “Selfie King” Diaz has not posted very many.

“I find it awkward to ask,” Diaz told Ladra, adding that he once asked a young voter who was more social media saavy, and the voter declined. He has taken more selfies with his canvassing team.

Of course, Diaz de la Portilla may be working so hard because he knows he has to win this one. If he doesn’t, this would be his second loss since leaving office in 2010, after he was beat by Jose Javier Rodriguez in a state House race in 2014. But it would be the fifth loss for the brand. Renier lost his 2012 state rep race and a 2014 judicial race against a party girl nobody and Miguel lost his senate re-election last year (against Rodriguez, who has become the family nemesis). They can’t afford another defeat. Is he feeling the pressure?

Alex DLP used Facebook to thank the Morejon family for the cafecito during canvassing

Quite the opposite, he told Ladra. “I’m the most relaxed I’ve ever been. The reception has been incredible,” he said. “It’s a blessing when you go house to house in neighborhoods you haven’t been to in 15 years and they recognize you.”

He knocked on the door of a 105-year-old voter who lives with her 81-year-old daughter in Westchester. Both women remembered voting for him in 1994 when he ran against incumbent Carlos Manrique for state House and beat him with a three to one margin. They made him tostones.

“I have no pressure whatsoever. People here know me and they know the difference between someone who is part of their community, someone who has the people’s back, and someone who is a Tallahasee creation,” Diaz de la Portilla said.

The walking may also be a wide pre-emptive strike because Diaz de la Portilla knows more nasty mail is coming. Once voters see mail pieces on DLP’s ethics complaint and his nasty divorce — which shouldn’t be campaign material but always raises her ugly head — the tostones and mamey shakes may disappear. Or they may not. These are the same people that elected Alex despite some driver’s license issues brought up by Manrique in ’94.

But Pepi Diaz can also get hit with mailers that depict him as Artiles’ BFF and roommate, who never condemned what he said and must have known something about the Hooters girl and the Playboy bunny on the former senator’s campaign payroll. Here they are in a selfie from the Trump inaugural. Diaz is also a lobbyist whose clients include Bell Helicopters and Miami Beckham United, which could be seeking state taxpayer subsidies for its planned Overtown soccer stadium.

Again, the difference is that DLP has much less to spend on getting this information out. Which brings us back to why he is walking so much. It’s free.

Diaz said that he would soon be polling and even Ladra is confident that his numbers will be better (they won’t go down) than the existing polls show. I mean, they have to be. The Republican in this house has gotten three mailers and his signs are everywhere. But it’s a high climb. Will the numbers be better enough?

Because his assertion that DLP’s support is wide and not deep is wrong. I know DLP fans. It’s like a cult. And Alex has the charisma of a cult leader while Pepi Diaz has the charisma of a mailman.

So it doesn’t matter how much blood money Pepi collects and how many signs he puts up, Alex still has the advantage.

On the blue side, one-time allies become rivals

Ladra does not expect the Democrat primary to be as ugly (or as interesting). Not just because the two candidates are ladies and not because they just aren’t as good at the negative stuff and not because there’s just really not much of it. Sure, Rivas Logan can be hit on the turncoat thing, cast as a onetime Republican with awards from conservative groups. But Taddeo can’t really do that while she boasts the endorsement and support of former Gov. Charlie “King Turncoat” Crist, who she ran in 2016 with as LG and who is among the multiple hosts at a fundraiser earlier this month. And yes, Taddeo can still be painted as a carpet bagger, especially since she is renting in the district.

But that’s not going to happen. Because the real reason this won’t get as ugly (or as interesting) as the GOP primary is that these two eran amiguitas the other day. Like five minutes ago. Nobody would believe a sudden death match.

“I plan on just making it a race about the issues and ideas,” Rivas Logan said. “I don’t have any animosity toward her. She can do her thing and I will do mine. She is not my enemy.”

Not that she isn’t a little peeved. Rivas Logan said she had already told Taddeo she was going to run for the seat in 2018. When Artiles was under fire to resign, she again said she would run — only maybe sooner. “She never mentioned to me that she was insterested in this seat,” Rivas Logan said, adding that she found out when she read it in the paper.

Taddeo may seem stronger. A Democratic poll shows she leads by 33 to 14 but that was with Baez in the race taking 10. She might only be leading 33 to 24, which closes the gap. And there is still 43 percent undecided.

She is decidedly raising more money, however. Taddeo has already collected, $45,559. More than a third of that came on June 8, the same day a big group of the county’s most prominent Dems hosted her at the Biltmore. The list includes Crist, who as well as former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre, former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, Miami-Dade Commissioners Jean Monestime and Daniella Levine-Cava, Miami Beach Commissioners Joy Malakoff and Micky Steinberg, South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard, Pinecrest Councilman James McDonald, former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner. Then there are people like Joe Arriola and attorney Benedict Kuehne, who represents former Miami Lakes mayor Michael Pizzi, so we know his judgement is not the best ever, and Chris Korge, whose son ran for that seat last year and lost — to Rivas Logan, half asleep and with two cents on his dollar.

Rivas Logan is not the best fundraiser. She has only raised $10,425 — not a quarter of her opponent’s total. But she apparently can stretch a dollar further. Remember, she beat Andrew Korge in the threeway primary last year for the same seat — with $12,000 against close to a million. And that was without campaigning. Rivas Logan, who has represented small parts of the area first as a school board member and then as a state rep — even though, yes, she was Republican. But that can be a selling point in the general — suspended campaigning because she did not want to get dragged into a dirty fight against Andrew Korge, who was already on the attack (she has spectacularly thin skin for an elected). And she still beat him (Dwight Bullard beat her, however, and went on to lose the general to Artiles).

Taddeo also spent close to a million dollars against Joe Garcia in the 2016 congressional primary. And he beat her .

So Rivas Logan is pretty relaxed even though she has less cash. Neither of them have spent much. I see no signs for either in the district and the Dem in this household has not gotten one mailer.

“I don’t like asking people for money and that’s not my strength. My strength is my connection with voters in my district. I ran against a guy who had a million dollars. And I defeated him with $15,000,” Rivas Logan said. And even though it was a telephone conversation, Ladra could hear the smile on her face when she said she had no hard feelings against the Democrats supporting Taddeo.

“I hope that they support me in the general.”

It started.

The rain of negative mail we all knew we were going to get in the Republican primary for Senate District 40 began this week as an 8 1/2 by 11 piece landed in mailboxes. And former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz — or his side, anyway — has drawn first blood against former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla.

“Alex Diaz de la Portilla 16 years.. of failure,” it says on the front. “For 16 years, career politician Alex Diaz de la Portilla has raised our taxes and wrecked our economy,” it says on the front. The back has another photo of the former senator from his time in Tallahassee (not one of the best) and the same message: “Alex DLP’s higher taxes have killed jobs and hurt seniors,” it says, going after his bread and butter (the over 60 voter).

“Alex Diaz de la Portilla isn’t really conservative,” it says, with a checklist of his tax and spend plan. “His 16-year voting record proves he is just another tax and spend liberal.”

Oooooh. Them there is fighting words. Someone just called DLP a liberal. There are probably a few dozen things he would rather be called: Scoundrel, hard-headed, arrogant, evil genius even. The Dean did not return a call for immediate comment on Friday, but Ladra does not think que se queda callado.

Diaz has told Ladra and others that he was not going to attack DLP — from his own PAC, anyway. And so far, it’s true. This mailer was paid for by Making a Better Tomorrow, a political action committee that has existed since 2014 and which is funded mostly by other PACs, which is a roundabout way of hiding money. Ladra is still working on it.

Read related story: Will he or won’t he? Senate 40 race waits on Jose Felix Diaz

But this is just the first of what will likely be a series of attacks on DLP, who is leading in both polls that Ladra knows about, both his own internal poll, which has him up 36 points, and a GOP poll that has the former senator leading by a smaller double digit figure.

It is a short election cycle so there’s very little to lose by calling your opponent a career politician and a liberal and using the words higher taxes and hurting seniors.

But it’s possible that this is not the last of it. Diaz, er, I mean his supporters, will keep attacking DLP, whose name recognition is higher, because there’s very little else they can do. Absentee ballots drop in a month or so and there is no way Diaz can make up the difference in name id between now and then.

So the forecast is for a deluge.

Daisy Baez vs. Ana Rivas Logan vs. Annette Taddeo

The Senate 40 race to replace disgraced former Sen. Frank Artiles got a little more interesting Monday when Republican State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz said he would run, as expected, and perennial Democrat candidate Annette Taddeo said she would run, as always expected — setting up for some exciting primaries in both aisles. Former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla (Republican) and newly-minted State Rep. Daisy Baez (Dem) had already announced their bid for the seat that opened up last month after Artiles was caught making racial and sexist slurs to colleagues.

Former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan, a former Republican now Democrat, told Ladra late Monday that she intended to run as well and would announce this week, making it at least a three-way race for blue voters on July 25.

Read related story: Two new ‘open’ seats spur political pinata question: 40 or 27?

Or a two-and-a-half way race. Because even though she is the Democrat Party choice, it is going to be difficult for Baez — who is barely known in her own district, let alone the one next door — to get much traction with the other two veterans in the race. And she will have to resign her seat to run. Ladra asked the Army veteran and freshman legislator if it was worth the risk of losing a recently turned House seat and her voice, which she used this year to speak against laws to punish sanctuary cities, especially now that a Senate seat in her very own district, where she was elected six months ago, will come available next year: In what is becoming an avalanche (more on that later), newly-minted Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez announced Monday that he would run for the congressional seat that will be vacated by a retiring Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. That means that the seat he won from former Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, which is where Baez votes now, would be open. (I stand corrected. J-Rod’s term is not up until 2020 and he does not have to resign to run so it might not be open… but it might be and there also might be a special election if he wins).

“I’m a person of my word. I’m not going to be switching around seats just because it’s convenient,” Baez said in what seemed like a dig at Taddeo. “I hope more people run. It’s good for democracy.”

Still, it really doesn’t make any sense for the Democrat Party, which has such a shallow bench, to put all their eggs into one basket and possibly lose a House seat they just won when they can spread their love. Maybe new Florida Dem Chair Stephen Bittel, for whom this is a first test, ought to rethink his longterm game plan. Both Taddeo and Rivas Logan have already had people vote for them in this district. They are both known entities here and this could very well become a race between the two of them.

Baez thinks that she can get voters interested in new blood. “I believe people are tired of the same names, the same faces, the family dynasties,” she said. “I think people in 40 have no appetite for recycled candidates.”

She scoffs at my carptebagger thing, since she would have to move. She said shares boundaries with Senate 40 and that she will still represent the people who elected her to House District 114 in November. “Many of the issues important to the constituents of 114 are the same in 40,” she said. “People want good jobs, economic development. We want to feel safe in our homes.”

Read related story: Red goes blue, blue goes red in four 305 seats

Those same people who elected her, Baez said, would support this move. “I went to Tallahassee and I had a great time and I learned a lot. And because I learned a lot there’s an understanding I can do better in the Senate. I can deliver better results to them as a state senator,” Baez said.

Rivas Logan, who ran for this seat last year and handily beat Andrew Korge in the primary blindfolded and with one hand tied behind her back, is not discouraged by the estrogen in the race or the fact that the Democrat Party would, again, pick someone else to back. She is used to being independent from her party, which used to be the GOP before it abandoned her in favor of Pepi Diaz when they were redrawn into the same district in 2012. Which means, by the way, that this could be a rematch of sorts.

“I’m going to do it and let the cards fall where they may,” Rivas Logan told Ladra Monday, adding that she called Taddeo to let her know. “I’m going to run a very positive campaign based on issues. And I hope we would support the other one in the general. But I am not getting out of anyone’s way this time.”

The schoolteacher and former Miami-Dade School Board member sort of canned her campaign for the same seat midway through the primary last year to avoid any negative attention from Korge, who was already hitting incumbent Sen. Dwight Bullard and had lots of money to do so. The strategy worked. Almost. She came back in time for early voting and actually beat Korge, who had outspent her.

Read related story: Senate 40 race: Ana Rivas logan still in it, could win it

She told Ladra that this was a better time for her because it is summer and school is out. “I spoke with my family and I have their full support,” she said, promising to keep her campaign positive. “It’s going to be about the issues. I have a track record of working for the people and fighting against the establishment.”

Taddeo — who moved into District 40 after selling her Pinecrest home in November — said she welcomed the competition. “I’ve never been afraid of races. In fact, this is the first time I run in an open seat,” Taddeo told Ladra.

This would be Taddeo’s first foray into a Senate campaign. She has run for congress, twice, and for county commission and lieutenant governor. It “wasn’t an easy decision” to run again, she said, but that she could not ignore the people in the community, including a number of influential black pastors, who had called her and asked her to run in this seat.

“They way things happened with Artiles was very hutful to a lot of constituents in our community,” she said, adding that she at first told them she would not run. “I was sure Dwight was going to do it,” she said, referring to Bullard, who won the primary last year but lost to Artiles and apparently understands now that only a Hispanic Democrat can beat a Hispanic Republican in that district. Bullard, she said, is not interested.

Read related story: Annette Taddeo has not gone gently into the good night

Even after Ros-Lehtinen, who Taddeo ran against in 2008, announced her retirement, the Colombian born small business owner said she didn’t flinch. “For me, it’s not about a title. It’s about fighting for the people. It’s not about a job. I have a job,” she said, referring to the translation company she owns.

“It really came down to listening to the people, the community that is telling you to do something. It would be inappropriate for me to ignore them,” she said.

One could say, however, that she keeps ignoring the voters who keep rejecting her. But Taddeo thinks this is the right seat at the right time. She told Ladra that she won almost 60% of the precincts that overlap with Congressional District 26 in her primary run against former Congressman Joe Garcia last August. Could she win in an off year?

This is all important because now that we are guaranteed a Hispanic woman, chances are that whoever wins the Democrat primary wins the general. It was already true because of the demographics — that district went to Clinton with 12 points — but now it becomes especially significant after the whole Artiles thing.

Sorry, Alex. Maybe he should run for his brother’s old Senate seat next year.

And we’re off. Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday set the date for a special election to replace disgraced former Sen. Frank Artiles, who resigned hastily last month after he was caught making racial and sexist remarks to black colleagues. The primary will be July 25 with the general election September 26.

Now, if we can only get an answer from State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz, the preferred candidate of the Florida Republican Party, even though there is probably nobody in Tallahassee closer to Artiles — maybe because there is nobody in Tallahassee closer to Artiles. Perhaps, since the session ended Monday, he will finally let us know one way or another: Is he going to run for Senate District 40 or what?

Diaz said goodbye to the Florida House in a teary speech Monday and has, apparently, said he is interested in running. That is, if something better doesn’t come along. He is waiting to hear about a post he’s been waiting for at the U.S. Attorney’s office in South Florida. Ladra hears it ain’t gonna happen, that he’s been passed over because he’s never seen the inside of a courtroom. He could, however, be waiting for another Trump administration handout, er, I mean position. Or to run for Florida AG if Pam Bondi makes a move.

Either way, his heart is not entirely in the Florida Senate. District 40 is a consolation prize for Diaz.

Read related story: Two new ‘open’ seats spur political piñata question: 40 or 27?

Meanwhile, he’s got the local GOP practically paralyzed. State Rep. Jeanette Nuñez is happy where she is at and plans to run for the Senate seat now occupied by Anitere Flores, which is an easier win for her and means she doesn’t have to move her young family from their home. Plus, she would be loathe to run against her one-time boss and mentor, former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla (photographed left), the first Republican (#thanksfrank) to make it official but who isn’t really one of the good ol’ boys. It’s quite likely that the GOP is looking for someone else. And no, not former Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Zapata, who isn’t much of a party line guy either. Zap, who represented much of the same district as a state rep, hasn’t returned Ladra’s calls but he’s been running self-promoting ads on Facebook after he said he was interested. Still, we hear he will only run if his friend Diaz doesn’t.

Seems Diaz, who is holding things up, le cai bien a todo el mundo. Well, except maybe former State Rep. Ana Rivas Logan, who he waged a nasty war with in 2012 when they were redrawn into the same district and . He hasn’t gotten into any major controversy or scandal in almost seven years. Everybody says he’s loyal. Is that why the GOP has so much Pepi love? But when you really think about it, he is quite possibly the wrongest candidate for this seat, if only because it would be too much like electing Frank Artiles all over again.

Diaz is Artiles’ BFF and roommate in Tallahassee. They live in what is apparently a frat house with State Reps. Jose Oliva and Manny Diaz, Jr. or Rey Rodrigues. Diaz has been quoted as saying he has cherished the time they’ve spent together in that house. “Some of the most funny and memorable experiences of my legislative career… I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he said.

They have been side by side for seven years. Artiles wants Diaz to succeed him (and should he be allowed to hand pick his replacement?). Who knows Artiles better than Diaz? Let’s pretend for a moment that Pepi didn’t know and accept Artiles as a racist pig, which would mean the racist and sexist remarks to colleauges at an after hours were somehow an isolated incident — and nobody who knows him even a little bit believes that. But let’s pretend that Diaz had a blind spot with his friend’s racism. Was he also blind to the Hooters girl and the Playboy model that served as “consultants”?  Blind to the questionable campaign expenses?

In a scathing Miami Herald story the week he resigned, a reporter found that Artiles had used his campaign account to pay the women $3,500 for their “consulting” services and to fund trips to the Kendtucky Derby and Key West, as ell as $51,000 in reimbursements to himself. Reimbursements for what exactly? Are we to believe Diaz was never around for any of this?

And the same political consultant who refused to tell reporters what those expenses were for, David “The Disgusting” Custin, also works for Diaz (and is pushing Diaz or Nunez so he can get paid).

Everyone is talking about Pepi’s lovely little emotional goodbye speech on the house floor after the session ended Monday, but I live in District 40 and, before I vote, I want to know what Diaz knew when.

Diaz and Artiles are still tight. Artiles last week shared Diaz’s Facebook post about condo association reform. If I were Diaz, I would ask his friend to not help so much. “Dude! Deja de postear about me!”

Read related story: Frank Artiles resigns and an old rival, Juan Zapata, could run

It’s a mutual admiration thing. Diaz has posted tons of pictures of him with Artiles on his social media platforms, where he is extremely active, posting pictures with celebrities, including our celebrity presidnent, Donald Trump, who fired our esteemed state rep from The Apprentice during season 5 in 2006. I’m telling you, he’s a frat boy. Ladra nickamed him the King of Selfies. I mean, what has Diaz done in seven years in the House except take more selfies than any elected should be allowed to? Anyone? Every single bill he sponsored this year died in committee or in calendar even, including his gaming bill, which would have expanded casino and gambling options in South Florida despite the fact that it is not what his constituents want. Who does he work for anyway? Genting?

Late Monday, Artiles posted several links to his Facebook page about his best friend’s farewell speech. “Where’s he going,” someone asked in a comment.

“Running for senate,” Artiles replied.

It’s not if or when these days in the 305 political world, it’s where.

Folks are lining up like ducks to become the next Florida Senator in District 40, after former Sen. Frank Artiles was forced to resign over racist remarks, or maybe the next Congress member from District 27, after longtime veteran U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced Saturday she would not seek re-election. Some are having to choose between the two.

It’s almost like someone broke open a political piñata and the big kids are just diving in, leaving no room for the new kids to grab any candy.

The latest to officially dive into the 40 contest, even though the governor has not yet set an election date, is former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who switched gears from considering a city of Miami commission run and filed paperwork Wednesday so he can start fundraising for a seat he is all to familiar with. The Dean DLP was in the Senate from 2000 to 2010, serving as Majority Leader and President Pro Tempore, until he was succeeded by his big brother Miguel DLP. This would be his first foray back into politics (for himself; he’s run other campaigns) since losing a bid to go back to the State House (he served as a rep from 1994 to 2000) in 2012.

This should put to rest all the talk about State Rep. Jeanette Núñez, who was being pushed hard by the Florida GOP, which is wise to be seeking a female to replace Artiles because some of his comments were misogynist, too, and you can bet that might become part of the campaign narrative if the Democrats choose a woman (read: wisely). Núñez was already loathe to have to move her family from Doral, from where she can comfortably run for Anitere Flores‘ seat when Flores terms out, which is her plan. She certainly isn’t going to run against The Dean, who was once her boss and mentor.

Read related story: Frank Artiles resigns and an old rival, Juan Zapata, could run

It should be an intresting primary nonetheless. Unless DLP is suddenly back in the GOP’s good graces, they may still push State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz into it. Pepi “The Selfie King” Diaz is said to be in the running for either U.S. Attorney General or Florida AG once Pam Bondi goes to Washington, but Ladra has been told that it’s been a difficult sell, primarily because he hasn’t really seen the inside of a courtroom, has he? Sscares away more of the multitudes on the sidelines thinking about this same senate seat, including former Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Zapata — who has suddenly started a new, fresh round of Facebook ads — and former Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado, who has been spending loads of time in Tallahassee since her loss to Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez and done many of her radio shows on state rather than county issues. While she lost countywide Regalado — who Ladra helped against Gimenez but is not working with in either of the other races — got tens of thousands of votes in both districts.

Interestingly enough, both Zap and Regalado are also interested in the congressional seat, for which former Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall — who lost a Congressional primary against Carlos Curbelo in 2014 — has formed an exploratory committee and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera has said he’s thinking about it

And why wouldn’t they be?

These opportunities for open seats do not come often. In the case of District 27, where Ros-Lehtinen’s announcement came out of the blue, we already had a bunch of Democrats interested in turning that seat. These include Scott Fuhrman, the DUI driver who lost to Ros-Lehtinen in November, and Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen-Gonzalez, the primary frontrunner who has a head start on everybody else — actually challenging Ileana and not waiting until she retired — as well as some early success in the city despite coming in as the mayor’s nemesis. That is, unless Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava jumps in. She has said that she is considering it. That could be a game changer. But are both of them too Democrat to carry the general? Dems seem to think this seat is theirs for the taking.

Read related story: Kristen Rosen Gonzalez to challenge Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

What an episode of Miami Hollywood Squares

Nobody has officially jumped in from the GOP side but Regalado makes sense. Ros-Lehtinen has always been a moderate and Regalado is too. Plus, she’s up on issues like education, immigration, healthcare and housing so she can hit the ground running. I like Mac, but he’s got too problems: He’s a Trump-loving hardline conservative and a gringo. I love Zap, but he should stick to 40, which is where he lives. Regalado lives in 27. She represented much of it on the school board. This is her home base. It’s Dean DLP’s home base, too, but the numbers may not look as good for a more conservative Republican.

Still, these days, it looks like everybody is Annette Taddeo, the carpetbagging perennial candidate who has run for county commission, liutenant governor and Congress. Or David Rivera, for that matter.

Speaking of which, the former Congressman, who has tried to win his seat back and is now running for state rep in 105 (to replace termed-out Rep. Carlos Trujillo), has not expressed an interest in the senate race, which is more natural for him than the congressional seat. Just because he was spotted in Frank’s old office in the Capitol Building in Tallahassee doesn’t mean anything. He could have just been visiting his longtime friend Alina Garcia, Artiles’ former Chief of Staff who once worked for Rivera.

Taddeo, on the other hand, has of course expressed interest in both seats. As well as, let’s just put dibs on it now, any seat that may open up in the future.