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On the Rise: Record Number of Cuban-Americans run for Congress in 2018
On the night of August 29 1989, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen shattered a glass ceiling. She not only became the first Cuban-American elected to Congress, but the first Latina, of any background, to ever serve in the nation’s capitol.
While she had become the first Latina to serve in both chambers of the Florida Legislature in 1982 and 1986, Ros-Lehtinen’s historic victory gave the Cuban-American community a voice in Congress to directly address the issue most concerning to them: the struggle for freedom on the island.
Her passion for international affairs and commitment to Human Rights in not only her native homeland of Cuba, but in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Tibet, Taiwan, and practically every region of the world, led her to become the first woman to chair the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
While Ros-Lehtinen will not be returning to next year’s Congress after fifteen terms in the House and nearly four decades of public service, her legacy is alive and well.
Upon first arriving in the “People’s House”, eleven Cuban-Americans have since followed in her footsteps: Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-FL)…
