After more than three decades in elected office, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has announced she will be retiring from Congress at the end of her term next year. Her retirement potentially paves the way for Democrats to take her congressional seat in the 2018 elections.
“It’s been such a delight and a high honor to serve our community for so many years and help constituents every day of the week,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in an exclusive interview Sunday. “We just said, ‘It’s time to take a new step.'”
Ros-Lehtinen, a moderate Republican congresswoman that was elected to Florida’s 27th district last November, and turns 65 in July, making her also the most senior U.S. representative in Florida. Ros-Lehtinen’s constituency notably leans Democratic, it voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a 20 percent margin.
“I’ve served under all kinds of different dynamics in all these years that I’ve been in office here,” she said “Though I don’t agree with many, if not most, positions of President Trump,” said Ros-Lehtinen. House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a tweet that it was “such a privilege to serve with her.”
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen broke barriers for Latinas when she, a Cuban-American, became the first Latina elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1989. Ros-Lehtinen states her retirement is not because of her differences with the President, however, she is ready for her next steps.
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