Scott Powers
Educator and human rights advocate Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera announced Thursday she is running for Congress, seeking the Republican nomination to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Florida’s 27th Congressional District.
Aguilera, of Brickell, is a former Doral vice-mayor, and also that city’s first economic development director.
She joins a crowded field in the 2018 race for CD 27, with Republicans state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, Maria Piero, and Bruno Barreiro, and Democrats state Rep. David Richardson, Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, Michael Hepburn, and Mark Anthony Person.
The district covers Miami Beach, south Miami, Kendall, and southeast Miami-Dade County.
“South Floridians want a government that listens to them and lives up to its promises. The government should not regulate our lives; it should foster opportunities – opportunities for more and better jobs and better quality of life,” Aguilera stated in a news release issued by her campaign.
“Building on my record of creating economic opportunity and tackling some of the South Florida’s toughest challenges, I will put people before politics and focus on job growth, improving education, supporting small business and defending human rights. I believe in a stronger future for all South Floridians and that is why I am running for Congress, to break through Washington’s bureaucracy and fight for the people of the 27th Congressional district,” she added.
