Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is an American politician and lobbyist from <a href="/facts/Miami/L5FsgQcb">Miami, Florida</a>, who represented <a href="/facts/Florida%27s_27th_congressional_district/2PlsajW8">Florida's 27th congressional district</a> from 1989 to 2019. By the end of her tenure, she was the most <a href="/facts/Seniority_in_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives/hoA865Rd">senior</a> <a href="/facts/United_States_House_of_Representatives/cdBPb9pY">U.S. Representative</a> from Florida. She was Chairwoman of the <a href="/facts/United_States_House_Committee_on_Foreign_Affairs/VtDSxaUS">House Foreign Affairs Committee</a> from <a href="/facts/112th_United_States_Congress/tK8do8z7">2011–2013</a>. In 1989, Ros-Lehtinen won <a href="/facts/Florida%27s_18th_congressional_district_special_election,_1989/KJJY5dn4">a special election</a> and became the first <a href="/facts/Cuban_Americans/abk9WHuG">Cuban American</a> elected to Congress. She was also the first <a href="/facts/United_States_Republican_Party/XXM1EVPr">Republican</a> woman elected to the House from Florida. Ros-Lehtinen gave the first Republican <a href="/facts/Response_to_the_State_of_the_Union_address/pYKScqgC">response to the State of the Union address</a> in Spanish in <a href="/facts/2011_State_of_the_Union_Address/rlqYq4Rx">2011</a>, and gave the third in <a href="/facts/2014_State_of_the_Union_Address/ECXj2jU0">2014</a>.
In September 2011, Ros-Lehtinen became the first Republican member of the U.S. Congress to co-sponsor the <a href="/facts/Respect_for_Marriage_Act/l8EYuYLz">Respect for Marriage Act</a>, which would repeal the <a href="/facts/Defense_of_Marriage_Act/Nz7wF96e">Defense of Marriage Act</a>. In July 2012, Ros-Lehtinen became the first Republican in the House to support <a href="/facts/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States/sBMNASEK">same-sex marriage</a>.
On April 30, 2017, Ros-Lehtinen announced that she would not be running for re-election in 2018.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen open-in-new

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen