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The 1990 Reelection of Ileana Ros Lehtinen, an easy reelection in a republican leaning Miami District for the congresswoman's first full term came after a barnburner 1989 special which pitted the congresswoman against Jewish Democrat Gerald Richman which Ros Lehtinen won by 6%.
That 1989 special was an acrimonious contest which was fought between the dominantly republican Cubans and overwhelmingly Democratic Jewish citizens of the district.
The 1989 fight can be best encapsulated by the incident where after RNC Chairman lee Atwater said FL-18 belonged to Cubans, Richman stated "This isn't an Anglo seat, it isn't a Jewish seat, it isn't a Cuban-American seat. It's an American seat."
But in the end, in part because of stellar turnout in Miami's Cuban Community, as the Queen of Salsa Celia Cruz (a normally apolitical Legendary Cuban-American) said at Ros Lehtinen's victory party "The Cubans won"; sending the First Cuban American Woman to Congress.
Whom was then subsequently easily reelected in 1990 over token opposition.
Compared to Bush, Ros Lehtinen improved the most among the district's low turnout African American Communities, and did the worst comparatively amongst the Jewish Population, the latter likely due to the racial tinge of the 1989 Special, whereas there wasn't as much vitriol between Cubans and African Americans.
1988 Presidential Election in FL-18th CD
Swing between 1988 Presidential and 1990 US House race
Lastly, Taking a look at elections where Democrats did better than Ros Lehtinen & Bush, we see that compared to both elections, they were near Uniform swings in favor of the Democrats throughout the seat, resulting in (R) Connie Mack wining the seat by 3.8% and (D) Lawton Chiles by 15.4%.
1988 Florida Senatorial Election in FL-18th CD
1990 Florida Gubernatorial Election in FL-18th CD
- https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/31/us/cuban-emigre-wins-election-to-us-house.html
- Data from Harvard_ROAD
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