GOP Unifies as Democrats Gear Up for Runoff in Florida House Race

Republican Party leaders rallied Wednesday around their nominee to succeed the late U.S. Rep. Claude Pepper, and two Democrats began a runoff campaign.

The winner in the GOP primary Tuesday, state Sen. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, was born in Cuba, a significant factor in a city where politics often is influenced by tensions among whites, blacks and mostly Cuban-born Latinos.

Many look to the special vote to fill the 18th District seat as a chance to elect the first Cuban-born member of Congress.

On the Democratic side, attorney Gerald Richman contended that he has momentum and that his opponent, former Miami City Commissioner Rosario Kennedy, is suffering backlash from negative campaigning as they headed to an Aug. 15 runoff.

Richman finished 146 votes ahead of Kennedy, with Pepper’s niece, Jo Ann Pepper, third in the seven-candidate field.

Kennedy’s supporters said that nominating another Cuban-born woman to oppose Ros-Lehtinen would negate ethnic factors. But Richman called the district “an American seat” and said he could unite the multi-ethnic community.

Pepper, a liberal champion of the elderly and poor who had held the seat for the Democrats since 1962, died May 30 at age 88.

Ros-Lehtinen, who won the GOP nomination with 83% of the vote, welcomed Republican Party help in campaigning for the Aug. 29 special election. Vice President Dan Quayle attended a luncheon Wednesday to benefit her and other state Republican candidates.

“We’re going to go all out,” state Republican Party Chairman Van Poole said. “We have the better candidate and we’re unified.”