Staff Reports
Raquel Regalado is officially in.
The Miami Herald reported the former Miami-Dade school board mayor filed her paperwork to run in the Republican primary to replace Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Congress. She’ll face Bruno Barreiro, who has already announced his campaign.
Regalado announced in May she planned to throw her hat in the race to replace Ros-Lehtinen, who is retiring in 2018, in Florida’s 27th Congressional District. By filing the official paperwork, Regalado can now begin fundraising for the seat. The Herald reported Barreiro raised $176,000 in the more recent fundraising cycle.
Regalado, a mother of two, has a history of crossing party lines POLITICO Florida reported Regalado, the daughter of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, backed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink in 2010 over Republican Rick Scott. She endorsed Scott in his 2014 re-election grid. And in 2016, she challenged Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, a fellow Republican. Gimenez won, 56 percent to Regalado’s 44 percent.
Ros-Lehtinen announced earlier this year she plans to retire when her term ends in 2018. Democrats look at the seat as a possible pick-up, since Hillary Clinton won the district by 20 percentage points. The district includes parts of coastal Miami-Dade, including Miami Beach.
A host of Democrats, including state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez and state Rep. David Richardson, have either announced or expressed interest in the seat.
