I wasn’t aware that Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was a gun-grabber.
State Senator Anitere Flores was my preferred candidate for FL-25 in 2010 and FL-26 in 2012 (pretty much the same district, but renumbered). But she didn’t want to challenge Rivera in the primary in either year, and so far hasn’t expressed interest in running against Democrat Joe Garcia in 2014 (I think she’d clear the field if she announced). It would take extraordinary circumstances for Anitere to challenge Ileana in the adjoining district.
As for Ileana’s FL-27 itself, it was made a bit more Republican in redistricting (as was the FL-26), going from 49% for McCain to 51% for McCain. But, as noted, Obama did much better among Cubans in 2012, and Romney only got 46.3% in the FL-27. So it ain’t exactly the Panhandle FL-01.
Interesting. I'm at a disadvantage because I really don't know what the new FL-25, FL-26, and FL-27 look like. They probably split up Miami like an ink blot in various districts so certain neighborhoods would help whoever they want to elect to that district.
I'm not surprised she didn't challenge Rivera. He wasn't in office long but I don't think any conservatives had issues with his voting record (his personal life was another matter, might have been one of the reasons he lost re-election)
I always think south Florida Republicans could do better than Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers. I'd definitely consider her a RINO who routinely votes with the Dems, albeit a rare example of a strongly pro-life one (perhaps similar to Chris Smith in NJ). Lincoln Diaz-Balart was always tagged as a "conservative" though his voting record was moderate, and his brother Mario was touted as "much more conservative", though one time I looked up "much more conservative" Mario's ACU rating and it was only like 3 points different than Linc's.
I think Mario's in Lincoln's house seat now. How much it looks like Lincoln's district before the 2012 remap, I don't know.
In any case, I think according to the latest remap data, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is now in an R+2 district, Joe Garcia (D) is in an R+4, and Mario Diaz-Balart is an R+6. I'd say replacing all three is doable, but that depends on whether south Florida Republicans have the willpower to find and run credible conservatives against them. Aside from Joe Garcia (who seems to have lucked into winning a GOP friendly seat), I doubt it.
Even if the bulk of Anitere Flores' state senate seat is in FL-25 and FL-26 rather than Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's seat, I think she'd be a strong and credible candidate for FL-27 if she was willing to give it a shot. It would be nice to see a new generation of conservative congressmen there (Garcia is 50, Diaz-Balart is 50, and Ros-Lehtinen is 60), especially if the biggest problem facing the GOP (and the reason why they're losing votes there) is not being able to connect with young voters.