Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart is currently fulfilling his 10th term in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Florida’s 25th congressional district. Diaz-Balart is a senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations, and he is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, in addition to serving on the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs and Defense Subcommittees.

Diaz-Balart passionately serves his constituents, acting tirelessly in defense of individual rights and liberties, promoting economic prosperity, and supporting a robust national defense. He is well-known for his advocacy of human rights and democracy around the world, as well as for his staunch support of our global allies. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002, making him the Dean of the Florida Delegation and Deputy Whip in Congress. Prior to his time in Congress, Diaz-Balart served in the Florida State Legislature in both the House and Senate chambers. He chaired several committees, including the Combined Appropriations/Ways and Means/Finance and Tax Committee.

Diaz-Balart was born on September 25, 1961, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to Rafael and Hilda Diaz-Balart and is the youngest of four brothers (Rafael, Lincoln, and Jose). He studied Political Science at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Diaz-Balart currently resides in Miami, Florida, with his wife, Tia, and son, Cristian Rafael.

Díaz-Balart was born in 1961 in Fort Lauderdale, to Cuban parents, the late Cuban politician Rafael Díaz-Balart, and his wife, Hilda Caballero Brunet.

He is a member of the Díaz-Balart family: His aunt, Mirta Díaz-Balart, was the first wife of Cuban president Fidel Castro. Her son, and his cousin, was Fidel Ángel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart. His uncle is the Cuban-Spanish painter Waldo Díaz-Balart. His brother Lincoln Díaz-Balart represented Florida's 21st District from 1993 to 2011. He has two other brothers, José Díaz-Balart, a journalist, and Rafael Díaz-Balart, a banker.

He studied political science at the University of South Florida before beginning his public service career as an aide to then-Miami Mayor Xavier Suárez in 1985. In the same year, he changed his political party affiliation from Democratic to Republican. He is a founding member of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, a caucus of Hispanic Republican congressmen.

In 2007, Díaz-Balart advocated maintaining the Cuban embargo, saying, “Some people do not understand the embargo of Cuba. Its purpose is to keep American hard currency out of the hands of a Communist thug by restricting most trade and travel”.

In an April 2015 essay for Time magazine, Díaz-Balart wrote that President Obama “continues to appease brutal dictatorships while gaining precious little in return. He conflates the Cuban dictatorship with the Cuban people when in reality, their interests are diametrically opposed”. Díaz-Balart noted that “all eight Cuban-American senators and congressmen from both sides of the aisle strongly disagree” with Obama's policy on Cuba, whose people “want to gather peacefully, speak their minds, practice their faiths, access the Internet, and enjoy the fruits of their labor”.

In September 2016, Díaz-Balart praised Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump “for firmly stating his commitment today to reverse President Obama's capitulations to the Castro regime” and contrasted Trump's position to what he called Hillary Clinton's “foolhardy stance”. The U.S., he said, needs “a president who once again will stand with the Cuban people instead of emboldening and enriching their oppressors”.

In a March 2017 memo to the Trump White House, Díaz-Balart argued that if the Cuban government did not conform to the Helms-Burton law within 90 days, the U.S. should revert to its pre-Obama policy on Cuba.

In 2007, Díaz-Balart advocated maintaining the Cuban embargo, saying, “Some people do not understand the embargo of Cuba. Its purpose is to keep American hard currency out of the hands of a Communist thug by restricting most trade and travel”. 

In an April 2015 essay for Time magazine, Díaz-Balart wrote that President Obama “continues to appease brutal dictatorships while gaining precious little in return. He conflates the Cuban dictatorship with the Cuban people when in reality, their interests are diametrically opposed”. Díaz-Balart noted that "all eight Cuban-American senators and congressmen from both sides of the aisle strongly disagree" with Obama's policy on Cuba, whose people “want to gather peacefully, speak their minds, practice their faiths, access the Internet, and enjoy the fruits of their labor”.

In September 2016, Díaz-Balart praised Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump “for firmly stating his commitment today to reverse President Obama's capitulations to the Castro regime” and contrasted Trump's position to what he called Hillary Clinton's “foolhardy stance”. The U.S., he said, needs “a president who once again will stand with the Cuban people instead of emboldening and enriching their oppressors”.

In a March 2017 memo to the Trump White House, Díaz-Balart argued that if the Cuban government did not conform to the Helms-Burton law within 90 days, the U.S. should revert to its pre-Obama policy on Cuba.

He took part in a January 2018 White House meeting about DACA and said that nothing would "divert my focus to stop the deportation of these innocent people whose futures are at stake.

On March 18, 2020, Díaz-Balart announced he had tested positive for COVID-19. He was the first member of Congress to do so.[60] Recovering from the effects of the disease, though still drained from the experience, Diaz-Balart said he would offer his blood plasma, with antibodies against it, for experimental treatment or research purposes.

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