The Nation - News from Aug. 16, 1989

Democrats in Miami chose between a Cuban-born woman and an attorney who said the race was for “an American seat” in a racially charged runoff for the nomination to succeed the late Rep. Claude Pepper. Rosario Kennedy, 44, who resigned after four years as a Miami city commissioner to run in the special election faced Gerald Richman, a 47-year-old former Florida Bar Assn. president making his first run for office. Dade County Elections Supervisor David Leahy said early turnout was running near 19%, but afternoon rain was expected to hurt late voting. The black vote was considered pivotal in a city where tensions among whites, blacks and Latinos, particularly those of Cuban descent, pervade politics.