Educator and Miami Beach City Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez filed her paperwork to run against U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., this week as Democrats hope to flip that seat in 2018.
Rosen Gonzalez joins a growing field running for the Democratic nomination. Businessman Scott Fuhrman and businessman Michael Hepburn are also seeking the Democratic nod.
“We deserve a member of congress who will hold President Trump accountable,” Rosen Gonzalez announced to the Miami Herald. “Instead of the president’s lapdog, I’ll be a watchdog who stands up for science against climate change deniers, stands up for immigrants against persecution, and fights back against partisan attacks on women’s health care.”
While she has been in Congress for almost three decades, Ros-Lehtinen could be vulnerable in 2018 due to changes in the district. Last month, pundit Larry Sabato and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics released its first appraisal of 2018 House races and Ros-Lehtinen’s seat was marked as a possible battleground even as it was classified as “Likely Republican.”
Traditionally, Ros-Lehtinen has kept her seat with ease. In 2014, she won another term without any opposition in the general election. In 2012, she blew out her Democratic challenger by almost 25 percent. Before 2016, only once in recent years did Ros-Lehtinen take less than 60 percent in a general election. Riding Barack Obama’s coattails, Annette Taddeo pulled 42 percent in 2008 but Ros-Lehtinen still pulled 58 percent.
But, after the latest round of congressional redistricting, 2016 offered a different story. Facing Democrat Fuhrman, something of a political unknown when he entered the race, Ros-Lehtinen won by a far less impressive margin. She won with 54.9 percent while Fuhrman claimed 45.1 percent, a closer margin than she has seen in decades. Trump struggled in this South Florida district back in November, taking 39 percent while Democrat Hillary Clinton pulled 58.6 percent here. All of this has given Democrats renewed hopes for picking this seat up in 2018. Already, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and liberal groups have run ads against Ros-Lehtinen as 2018 looms.
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