Annette Taddeo, a Colombia-born business executive, told The Miami Herald Saturday she will challenge Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for her seat in the U.S. Congress.
"I think voters are hungry for new leadership and they have a chance to change the Bush-Lehtinen approach, which has obviously failed us," said Taddeo, 40. "I'm confident the voters will choose a new direction and that I will win."
Taddeo's decision also completes the Democrats' South Florida trifecta:
Taddeo's move adds the last piece to a high-stakes Democratic Party election-year strategy to unseat the three incumbent South Florida Republican Cuban-American lawmakers: Lincoln Diaz-Balart, his brother Mario and Ros-Lehtinen.
Raul Martinez, the former Hialeah mayor, announced his candidacy against Lincoln Diaz-Balart [FL-21] on Jan. 22; Joe Garcia, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party chairman and Cuban-American National Foundation member, announced his run against Mario Diaz-Balart [FL-25] last week.
This district is R+4.3, but Dems are banking on the voting habits of Cuban-Americans, particularly younger ones, shifting in our favor. And in fact, the registration trends are positive for us:
The largest bloc of district voters consists of Republicans, 126,152, down by more than 2,400 since the 2006 election. The number of registered Democrats has risen by more than 2,000 -- from 105,400 two years ago. Unaffiliated voters have increased by more than 1,400 to 73,681.
SSP's James Hell has been closely following developments in these races, and I know that Markos of DailyKos is also keenly interested in them. So expect plenty of blogospheric attention to this corner of the country.
