Florida's 25th congressional district

Infobox U.S. congressional district
state = Florida
district number = 25


representative = Mario Diaz-Balart
party = Republican
english area =
metric area =
percent urban =
percent rural =
population = 639,295
population year = 2000
median income = 44,498
percent white = 76.3
percent black = 10.8
percent asian = 1.6
percent native american = 0.2
percent hispanic = 62.4
percent other race = 1.1
percent blue collar =
percent white collar =
percent gray collar =
cpvi = R+4

Florida's Twenty-Fifth Congressional District is a U.S. congressional district in Florida. Currently, the residents of the Twenty-Fifth District are represented by Republican Mario Diaz-Balart. George W. Bush received 56% of the vote in this district in 2004. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of R +4.

2008 Congressional elections

On February 7, 2008 Joe García, the chairman of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party, announced that he would run against Diaz-Balart in the 2008 general elections.

In March 2008, the Garcia's campaign announced that noted political strategist Joe Trippi, the campaign manager for 2004 presidential candidate and former Vermont governor Howard Dean, was joining the campaign team as Senior Media Adviser.

In April 2008, Garcia held a controversial fundraiser with Representatives Charles B. Rangel, who has met repeatedly with Fidel Castro and pushed legislation that would allow U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba and allow American firms to do business there. Garcia said he "has serious disagreements with Rangel on Cuba. But having a relationship with the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee would help him bring federal money back to the district." His opponent criticized Garica in a statement that read: "He has a long and well-known history of supporting a radical left-wing agenda including supporting higher taxes on working families and appeasing our nation's enemies." [Reinhard, Beth [http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/v-print/story/488237.html Congressman's help in South Florida race may backfire] "Miami Herald", April 9, 2008]

According to the August 14, 2008 Time magazine article, suggested that Mario Diaz-Balart faces a competitive race. It also said that "Democratic voter registration in Miami-Dade County, as in other places, is up, and Republican registration is down". [Time Magazine, "Big Trouble in Little Havana" by Tim Padgett, August 14, 2008.]

According to many commentators, Garcia is Mario Diaz-Balart's most formidable political opponent ever because of the amount of money that he has raised and the national media attention that he has generated [ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/magazine/13CUBANS-t.html?ref=politics "...Diaz-Balart brothers are facing the first serious challenges of their careers..." ] [Miami New Times, "Best Politician of 2008: Joe Garcia", May 15, 2008] [The Sun Sentinel, "Garcia, sí! Diaz-Balart, no!" by Stephen Goldstein, May 7, 2008] [The Sun-Sentinel," Miami's Diaz-Balart brothers face strong challenges for congressional seats" by Laura Wides-Muñoz, Associated Press, March 21, 2008 ] [ http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/8/11151/12155 ] Nonetheless, the Rothenberg Political Report [ [http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2008/07/2008-house-ratings_29.html Rothenberg Political Report] , as of 2008-07-29] and CQ Politics [ [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=ratings-house CQ Politics] ] have rated the seat as "Republican Favored." The Cook Political Report [ [http://www.cookpolitical.com/charts/house/competitive.php Cook Political Report] , as of 2008-07-31] rated the district as "Likely Republican." The Crystal Ball has rated the district as "Safe Republican" [ [http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/2008/house Crystal Ball] , as of 2008-07-30]

A poll of the race, that was conducted conducted June 6 to 22, by noted Democratic pollster, Sergio Bendixen, showed Diaz-Balart ahead of Garcia 44 percent to 39 percent, with 17 percent undecided. [ http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/43384.html ]

Representatives

References

External links

* [http://www.house.gov/mariodiaz-balart/ Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart's official House of Representatives website]
* [http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/feb/07/miami-democratic-party-leader-announcing-bid-us-ho/ Democrat Garcia announces challenge to Diaz-Balart]