RISING STARS
Ale x Santana By Andrew Meacham
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or 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
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INFLUENCE Spring 2023