The crowd of Democrats looking to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., grew larger on Wednesday as former Judge Mary Barzee Flores launched her campaign to win that open South Florida congressional seat.
Born in Miami, Barzee Flores spent more than a decade as a public defender in the U.S. Southern District of Florida before being elected to the Miami Circuit Court in 2002. Then President Barack Obama nominated Barzee Flores for a federal judgeship but that was blocked by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
As she launched her bid, Barzee Flores made her opening pitch to voters.
“I'm running for Congress because I believe our politics and our politicians have gotten too small and the challenges we face are too big," said Barzee Flores. "I refuse to sit back and watch as tens of millions of Americans lose their health care, our public schools fall into ruin, our environment is ravaged, our heroes are neglected and disrespected, and our children’s futures are squandered away by stupidity and greed.”
Barzee Flores insisted Rubio blocked her nomination to the federal bench due to her politics, which include supporting the ACLU and Emily’s List.
“Petty partisan politics prevented me -- like Judge Merrick Garland and so many other Obama federal court nominees -- from fulfilling President Obama's call to public service but I’m persistent and I don’t give up easily,” she said. “I remain committed to serving this community and this country.”
But Rubio weighed in on the matter last summer, insisting Barzee Flores misled Congress during the nomination process.
“Rubio said Barzee Flores wasn’t candid about her involvement in a case involving claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and that she wasn’t forthcoming enough about prior support for groups such as Emily’s List, which supports abortion-rights candidates,” Politico reported last June. “Barzee Flores, Rubio’s office said, gave conflicting answers about the groups to the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee and to the Democrat-heavy Judicial Nominating Commission, which recommends attorneys for the bench in Florida.”
Rubio also talked to WFTV in Orlando about the nomination last June in unaired footage shared with Politico.
“I have concerns about two of the answers she gave during her process through the JNC,” Rubio told WFTV. “They did not reflect the answers she later gave to the Judiciary Committee in their review of her, including her role in a particular case. And that right there is going to make it almost impossible for her to get confirmed.”
The new candidate joins a very crowded primary. Educator Michael Hepburn, state Rep. David Richardson, state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, Miami Beach City Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez and Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell are already running for the Democratic nomination. Other potential Democratic candidates include community leader Matt Haggman, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales and former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, educator Maria Peiro and former Miami Dade County School Board Member Raquel Regaldo are running on the Republican side.
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