Six U.S. House seats are up for election in South Florida this year, three held by Democrats and three by Republicans, but only one is rated potentially competitive by The Cook Political Report.
That’s Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar’s race in a district that encompasses Miami and areas to the south. The outcome is considered “Likely Republican.”
Her Democratic opponent, Lucia Baez-Geller, is a member of the Miami-Dade County School Board.
The other House seats are designated solid Democrat or Republican and according to The Cook Political Report are not likely to become closely contested.
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Here's a look at who is running.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart versus Joey Atkins, District 26
Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart is running for a 12th term representing District 26, that stretches from Miami-Dade County to Collier County. He is being challenged by Joey Atkins, a lawyer.
Balart is a member of a prominent Cuban-American family; MSNBC anchor Jose Diaz-Balart is a brother. Before he was elected to Congress he served in the Florida state Legislature.
In Congress, he has worked for reforming immigration policies, restoring the Everglades and improving the safety of schools. He also backed former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results in 2020.
Atkins is campaigning on the cost of housing and other basic living needs, the lack of public transportation and the need for infrastructure repairs.
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar versus Lucia Baez-Geller, District 27
Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar is a former television journalist who worked at NBC Universal’s Telemundo and other Spanish-language stations, before her election to the House. She is running for a third term representing District 27.
The daughter of Cuban exiles, Salazar serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on Small Business. On her congressional website, she lists as her priorities defending individual rights and liberties, promoting economic development and job training, building environmental resiliency.
The League of Conservation Voters gives her a rating of 14% for her votes in 2023 and a lifetime score of 17% and like other Republicans, she has boasted about federal funding for her district that she voted against, the infrastructure bill for example.
She backed bipartisan immigration reform measure, voted to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and supported raising the age to buy an assault-style rifle to 21.
She voted to restrict access to abortion medication and has an A Plus rating from the Susan B. Anthony anti-abortion group. As far as the abortion rights amendment on the ballot in Florida this year, she told the Miami Herald that the language of the amendment was “vague.”
Lucia Baez-Geller was a high school teacher in Miami’s public schools for 15 years and is now a member of the Miami-Dade County School Board.
Baez-Geller supports reproductive rights, and has told her story of ending a non-viable pregnancy, a procedure that would now be impossible under Florida’s six-week abortion ban.
She calls for doing more to make Miami resilient to climate change and continuing the work of the Biden administration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
She also supports making housing more affordable and curbing the rising costs of homeowners insurance.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez versus Phil Ehr, District 28
Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez was elected to Congress in 2020 to District 28, defeating Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the Democrat challenging Sen. Rick Scott.
This year, Gimenez, the former mayor of Miami-Dade County and former city manager of Miami, is running against Phil Ehr, a U.S. Navy veteran.
The district includes part of Miami-Dade County and all of Monroe County.
Like Diaz-Balart, Gimenez backed Trump’s attempts to overturn the presidential election results in 2020.
Ehr, a former Republican who twice ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Matt Gaetz, originally planned to challenge U.S. Sen. Rick Scott this year, according to Florida Politics.
He supports what he calls responsible gun laws, restoring women’s reproductive rights and building clean energy and water infrastructure.
On his website, he notes that his first mission in the Navy was the Mariel boatlift in the Florida Strait, rescuing men, women and children who were escaping Cuba.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz versus Joseph Kaufman, District 23
Democrat Jared Moskowitz is a one-term representative from District 23 that includes his alma mater, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, the scene of one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history.
He is being challenged by Republican Joseph Kaufman, who has twice run for the seat.
Moskowitz, after the deaths of 17 students on Valentine’s Day 2018, advocated to get gun control laws passed in Florida. He also served as the state’s emergency management director under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the only Democrat to head an agency in the administration. A lawyer, he was appointed to a bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination of Trump. He has gained attention for proposing to name a federal prison in Florida after Trump and visiting Columbia University to criticize what he said was anti-Semitic behavior by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Kaufman is a writer, researcher and lecturer on national security, terrorism and antisemitism. He is the Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, where he write for the center's publication, FrontPage Magazine and heads his own counter-terrorism non profit organization.
Rep. Frederica Wilson versus Jesus Gabriel Navarro, District 24
Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson is running for her eighth term for District 24, which extends from Broward County to downtown Miami. She is a former teacher and member of the Miami-Dade County School Board. She has obtained federal funds for environment projects to her district and has a 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. She supports abortion rights.
Wilson is opposed by Republican Jesus Gabriel Navarro, who challenged her once before in 2022. He is running on such issues and stopping illegal immigration, lowering taxes and cutting unnecessary regulations. He says he supports Gov. Ron DeSantis’ efforts to ban instruction on sexual orientation and gender orientation and about racism.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz versus Chris Eddy, District 25
Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz currently represents District 25. She was first elected to Congress in 2004 and took office in 2005. She is being challenged by Chris Eddy, a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force, on the Republican ticket.
Wasserman Schultz is Florida's first Jewish representative, according to her Congressional website. She served as the chair of the Democratic National Committee but resigned after leaked emails showed that committee staff members favored the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
As a congresswoman, she has worked to protect the Everglades, make swimming polls and spas safer and increase young women's access to mammograms. She introduced legislation to encourage more states to allow women to end the parental rights of a rapist. She backs expanding affordable health care, taking action to curb climate change and preventing gun violence.
Eddy, on his website, says he was motivated to run over the country's rising debt and lost sense of civility. The grandson of Lebanese immigrants, he would focus on the debt, illegal immigration and support for Israel.
