She’s been in office more than half her life, first elected when she was 30, now she’s 63. Almost 7 years in the FL legislature and 26 years in Congress.
Her first election was important in that she finally took a district represented by the old-line Democrat leftist Claude Pepper (whom himself had been in office on and off for nearly 60 years) and capitalized on it becoming the first official Cuban GOP district (and she was also the first Latina of either party elected) upon the special election following his death.
Curiously, Ros-Lehtinen will have held that House seat as long as Pepper did as of January 2016 (26 years, 4+ months), so this district has had only 2 members in 53 years. It’s well past time she retired.
Ros-Lehtinen is like Rob Portman, doing the wrong thing for the right reason. I’ll give her a pass. Anyway, she’s a historic figure, first Hispanic woman, so that gives the party PR value.
Red Pepper also served in the Senate before being demoted by George Smathers, the latter of whom was the inspiration for Senator Geary in the Godfather, but you knew that already. ;)