WASHINGTON _ Democrats could hardly contain their joy at the unexpected retirement announcement by Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on Sunday, and even Republicans had to admit it will be hard for them to hold that Miami-area seat in 2018.
Ros-Lehtinen, a moderate Republican, has cut a particularly independent profile as the rest of her party raced to the right. Her heavily Democratic district backed Hillary Clinton by 20 percentage points in November, and Republicans who know the district well questioned whether another GOP candidate could thread that needle.
"It puts this seat in serious risk for Republicans," said Ana Navarro, a Miami-based GOP strategist who considers Ros-Lehtinen a friend. "This is my district. Other than Ileana, who is so liked, she got a pass from GOP voters for being a moderate and got a pass from Democrats for being a Republican, I cannot think of one likely candidate who can win, both a GOP primary and the general election."
Democrats were already strategizing about how to make inroads in the more than 20 Republican-held congressional districts that Clinton won as they plot a course aimed at re-taking the Congress. They need to win 24 seats in 2018 to win back a House majority, and even before Ros-Lehtinen's retirement news, Democratic operatives were predicting a big midterm election year owing to Trump's low approval ratings and the challenges that a president's party historically faces in midterm elections.
In April, the party nearly won two special election House seats _ in Kansas and Georgia _ in districts Republican candidates won by more than 20 points in last year's election.
Republicans quickly acknowledged that a decent Democrat candidate would be formidable.
"If Clinton carried that district with her liabilities, her baggage, in what was basically a Trump wave in Florida, then after Trump's performance in office, you would think a credible Democratic candidate would be able to do very well," said Mac Stipanovich, a longtime Republican operative and lobbyist in Florida and a frequent Trump critic.
Asked for comment on Ros-Lehtinen's retirement, the National Republican Congressional Committee offered a statement from the committee's chairman, Steve Stivers.
"Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is simply a force of nature," Stivers said. "Her tireless work ethic was only matched by her charismatic personality. She represented her South Florida district well and she will be dearly missed in Washington. I wish her and her family the best."
