On Sunday, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) announced she will not seek re-election to her Miami-area seat in 2018, handing Democrats a promising pick-up opportunity. Ros-Lehtinen beat her Democratic challenger in November by 10 points, even though Hillary Clinton won the newly redrawn 27th congressional district by 20 points. Ros-Lehtinen, 64, is the first Cuban-American and first Hispanic woman elected to Congress, and she's the longest-serving Floridian in Congress; Jeb Bush managed her first congressional campaign and Sen. Marco Rubio (R) was once her intern.
Ros-Lehtinen told the Miami Herald on Sunday that after 38 years in elected office, "it's time to take a new step." She said she had no doubt that she could win next year if she ran. Democrats need to win 24 more seats to take control of the House, and they seem pretty confident of their chances in the Florida 27th. Ros-Lehtinen is generally a defense hawk and to the left of her party on LGBTQ rights and on health care. She said she isn't retiring because of President Trump. "I've served under all kinds of different dynamics in all these years that I've been in office here," Ros-Lehtinen told the Miami Herald. "Though I don't agree with many, if not most, positions of President Trump."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
