Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Pro-Israel Stalwart, Will Retire From Congress
Bipartisan Effort: Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Steve Israel are leading a bipartisan charge to return Iraqi Jewish artifacts to the community. Image by Getty Images
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a congressional leader who has been a staunch defender of Israel and the rights of Holocaust survivors, is leaving Congress.
Ros-Lehtinen, a GOP moderate who has sharply criticized the policies of President Donald Trump, told the Miami Herald on Sunday that she simply no longer felt the drive to run again and is retiring at the end of her current term.
“There was no epiphany. There was no moment, nothing that has happened that I’ve said, ‘I’ve got to move on,’” Ros-Lehtinen, 64, told the newspaper. “It was just a realization that I could keep getting elected — but it’s not about getting elected.”
Ros-Lehtinen, who is Cuban-born of Jewish descent, took a special interest in Israel during her career.
Elected in 1989 from her diverse South Florida district, she was the first Cuban elected to Congress.
She remained popular in a district that trended increasingly Democratic, defeating her rival by 10 points in November while Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, bested Trump by 20 points. Ros-Lehtinen broke with Trump on his immigration policies and his embrace of the far right.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
