Florida Elects Havana-Born State Senator as the First Cuban-American in Congress

A Havana-born Republican state senator rode heavy support from Miami’s Hispanic community Tuesday to become the first Cuban-American elected to Congress, winning the seat held by the late Claude Pepper for nearly three decades.

In an ethnically divisive race, state Sen. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, 37, received 49,638 votes, or 53%, to 43,759, or 47%, for Brooklyn-born Democrat Gerald Richman, 48, who was making his first run for elective office.

The race was made necessary by Pepper’s death May 30 at age 88. Pepper, a Democrat, had held the seat since its inception 27 years ago.

“I pledge to provide leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives which is based on a caring conscience and conservative convictions,” Ros-Lehtinen told cheering supporters.

“I will strive to complete the mission established by Rep. Pepper of a society where the old are respected, the ill are taken care of,” she added.

Concedes Defeat

In conceding defeat, Richman thanked his supporters for helping him come from a “total unknown” to nearly defeating Ros-Lehtinen.

The suspense in the heated contest was extended for more than an hour late Tuesday by a Dade County elections computer problem that temporarily halted vote-counting.

The turnout was nearly 51%, far higher than normal for a special election and higher than election officials’ 43% projection.

The unofficial returns indicated that predominantly Latin precincts, with turnouts of more than 60%, boosted Ros-Lehtinen with 80% to 90% margins, while Richman was favored by margins of 80% to 90% in predominantly black and non-Latin white precincts.

The Democrats, mindful that August is vacation month for many Miami residents, had tried to build an absentee-vote margin for Richman. But election officials said Richman had only 3,933 absentee votes to 3,599 for Ros-Lehtinen.

Ethnic-bloc campaigning dominated the short, tense race between Ros-Lehtinen and Richman for the remaining 14 months of Pepper’s term. Richman had come under fire for declaring: “This is an American seat.”

Richman, who is Jewish, had hoped to capitalize on the 30,000-plus edge that Democrats, mostly blacks, Jews and retirees, hold in registration. Ros-Lehtinen looked to the Hispanic community, which makes up 40%-plus of the total vote.

Polls in the final week of the race all indicated it was too close to call.

‘It’s been a very controversial election,” said Dade County Elections Supervisor David Leahy. “There has been a tremendous amount of media exposure, and we think both camps are getting a lot more people out to vote.”

GOP Majority

With the victory, the GOP added to its present 10-8 majority in Florida’s congressional delegation, while the state Democratic Party failed to erase its recent image of disunity and decline.

Pepper’s seat is one of five openings in the U.S. House. The others were caused by the resignations of Tony Coelho (D-Merced) and Jim Wright (D-Tex.) and the deaths of Mickey Leland (D-Tex.) and Larkin Smith (R-Miss.) in plane crashes.

Ros-Lehtinen had refused to appear with Richman during the campaign, charging his “American seat” message was bigoted.

However, the same charges were made against her campaign over a Spanish-language mailing that urged Hispanics to show how American they were even though they weren’t born in Brooklyn and didn’t speak English like Richman.

Richman’s said his “American seat” remark was an appeal to voters to decide on qualifications, not birthplace. He also said it was a response to GOP National Chairman Lee Atwater’s statement that the party wanted to elect a Cuban-American.

But many saw Richman’s theme as anti-Hispanic code.

Ros-Lehtinen, a legislator for seven years, emphasized experience and populist appeal in her campaign, which included appearances by President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. Her campaign chairman was the President’s son Jeb.

Ros-Lehtinen, whose husband, Dexter Lehtinen, is U.S. attorney in Miami, portrayed herself as tough on crime and drugs.

But Richman argued that her legislative record against gun control showed softness on crime, because it allowed criminals easy access to guns.

Richman also tried to make abortion an issue; he’s pro-choice, Ros-Lehtinen is for further restrictions on abortion. With polls indicating most voters were pro-choice, Ros-Lehtinen claimed it wasn’t an issue.

Richman, a former Florida Bar Assn. president, stunned the Democratic Establishment by breaking out of a seven-candidate pack to win narrowly the party’s Aug. 1 primary, then trouncing erstwhile front-runner Rosario Kennedy in an Aug. 15 runoff. Ros-Lehtinen won the GOP nomination in the Aug. 1 primary.

The district covers black neighborhoods such as Liberty City, most of Miami, Miami Beach and Miami Springs and sections of blue-collar Hispanic Hialeah and upscale Coral Gables and Key Biscayne.