Miami Split by Ethnic Rivalry in Race for Pepper’s Congressional Seat

The Miami congressional district so long united behind its beloved Claude Pepper--the bulbous-nosed champion of the elderly--now has been cleaved by the blade of ethnic rivalry.

On Tuesday, Miami voters will elect a successor to Pepper, who died May 30. The candidates are Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, 37, a former state senator, and Democrat Gerald Richman, 48, a wealthy lawyer.

There are plenty of issues that separate the two. But the only distinction that seems to matter is that she is Cuban-American and he is not.

So far, the entire campaign has turned on a single glib comment made here in June by the Republican Party’s national chairman, Lee Atwater. He said the seat “belongs to a Cuban-American.”

Words Split Community

Those words, like the cut of an ax, split apart the city’s coming Latino majority and the Anglo residents who feel Miami is being wrested from them.

Richman, then a political long shot, immediately shot back: “This is an American seat.” He rode that rejoinder to a plurality in the primary and then a victory in a runoff over Cuban-born Rosario Kennedy.

The “American seat” catch phrase was sure to appeal to non-Latinos. In 30 years, their share of Dade County’s population has fallen from 95% to 54%. Some complain about Cubans as if they were an occupying army.

But the phrase has hurt Richman, too. Editorialists and civic groups charge that this reverse spin on Atwater’s remark was simply a cynical effort to rally Anglos and blacks into a winning coalition.

Richman, a former president of the Florida Bar, denies he intended any divisiveness: “This isn’t an Anglo seat, it isn’t a Jewish seat, it isn’t a Cuban seat. It’s an American seat. It belongs to all the people.”

Yet not all believe his message is so open-armed. Kennedy, a former city commissioner, shuns him. And Ros-Lehtinen--out of genuine offense or strategic retreat--calls him a bigot and refuses to meet him in debate.

“I will not allow any person to sit with me with a smile on his face and a message of racism and bigotry in his heart,” she said.

By the numbers, Richman would seem to be at an advantage in Florida’s 18th Congressional District, which includes much of Miami and all of Miami Beach. Democrats outnumber Republicans, 54% to 38.5%. The ethnic breakdown is 44.1% non-Latino white, 36.9% Latino and 18.4% black.

Polls show the election is likely to be decided along strict ethnic, rather than political, lines. Among the two largest voting blocs, 28 in every 29 Cuban-American voters say they support Ros-Lehtinen; 24 in every 25 Jewish voters say they support Richman.

But the polls also indicate that the outcome will hinge on turnout, and right now that puts Ros-Lehtinen a few points ahead. Cuban-Americans are more likely to vote, especially to send the first Cuban-American ever to Congress.

The Republican Party senses this. President Bush has campaigned here. So has Vice President Dan Quayle and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp.

On the other hand, until a few days ago the Democratic National Committee did little to protect the seat that was Pepper’s impregnable fiefdom for 27 years.

In fact, Richman has financed most of the campaign himself, spending, by his own estimate, $320,000.

Last Wednesday, however, national party Chairman Ron Brown arrived here to stand at Richman’s side and convince black voters--so far somewhat aloof--that the Jewish lawyer has more to offer them.

“This is Claude Pepper’s seat, and we can’t allow it to be trampled on by some right-wing ideologue who is the antithesis of everything Claude Pepper stood for,” Brown said.

But Miami had only one Claude Pepper. For years the crafty old congressman stood on the liberal side of social issues and the conservative side of foreign affairs--always on the safe side of a landslide.

With his death at age 89, he left behind no obvious heir, just a changing city easy to rend and hard to stitch.