Ros-Lehtinen’s exit will have big impact

The surprising decision by Miami Republican U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to retire when her term ends next year figures to have great impact far beyond South Florida.

For in presidential politics, Republican candidates have long taken their cues from Miami’s Cuban delegation, starting with Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuba hardliner who stands opposed to any thaw in relations until the Castro government holds free elections and improves its human rights record.

Ros-Lehtinen is a trailblazer who’s made her mark on many issues, including education, climate change and LGBTQ rights. But on the national stage, Cuba — the country her family escaped when she was 8 years old — is her defininig issue.

Yet over the years, attitudes have evolved about how best to effect change in Cuba. Polls show a majority of Cuban-Amerians favor the two-year-old policy of normalizing relations with the island nation. A majority also would like to see the 55-year-old trade embargo lifted.

So given her plans to forego a re-election campaign — and with her colleague Rep. Carlos Curbello considered the most endangered Republican in Congress — the nature of Florida’s play in presidential politics, particularly on the issue of Cuba, faces a pivot point.

Ros-Lehtinen insists her decision isn’t about fear of losing her next election, no matter that her 27th District in southeast Miami-Dade County was redrawn prior to the 2016 election. After all, she won the district last year by 10 points, despite Hillary Clinton having carried the district by 20 points. Still, it was her closest and most costly race.

If you’ve ever seen this 64-year-old grandmother with her four grandchildren, it’s easy to believe she’s more interested in family time than in flying to Washington every week to face the dysfunction there.

Her explanation especially rings true since President Trump was not her choice. Already, she has stood against him on a health care plan that would leave too many people without access to care, on a travel ban that targeted people from seven predominantly Muslim countries and on his belief that the media is the enemy of the people.

Though a conservative, Ros-Lehtinen, elected to the Florida House in 1982 and to Congress in 1989, was ahead of her party in breaking orthodoxy and embracing change. She was a champion of LGBTQ rights, and a strong advocate for the rights of her transgender son, Rodrigo. She also was one of the first Republicans to join the bipartisan Climate Solutions Conference.

She also is a loyal friend of Israel. Last year, she was among those in Congress — along with Democrats Deutch and Frankel — calling for Germany to offer restitution to Holocaust survivors.

“I’m a moderate,” she told the Miami Herald. “I’m not one of those name-callers that think the Democrats don’t have a single good idea.”

Proof of Ros-Lehtinen’s ability to work with Democrats is seen in the praise she’s received since announcing her decision.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, as partisan a Democrat as you will find, called Ros-Lehtinen — the first Cuban-America to serve in the Florida Legislature and the first elected to Congress — a “dear friend.”

“The irony,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement, “is that Washington today is castigated for being too partisan and a place where no one can get along. Ileana’s . . . friendship and finding common ground were her calling cards.”

Similar praise came from other South Florida Democrats, including Reps. Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel and Frederica Wilson, who said Ros-Lehtinen was “unafraid to veer from the party line.”

Praise also poured in from conservative Republicans, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — a former Ros-Lehtinen intern. “She served our community, state & country well. Godspeed & finish strong,” he said on Twitter.

In an era marked by hostile partisanship, this likable lawmaker proved it was possible to work with the opposition party.

Ros-Lehtinen’s political legacy is rich and meaningful.

We thank her for a job well done. And we wish her good health and great happiness when she retires.