Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart wants to have it both ways. Straddle the fence. Hedge his bets, if you will. Or, to get to the point without cliches, play it safe. Or at least what passes for “safe” in Republican terms these days.
According to Diaz-Balart, “playing it safe” means committing his vote to the Republican Presidential nominee while ignoring—or at least tepidly questioning—Trump’s policy positions, and more recently, said nominee’s alleged illegal dealings in Cuba.
Here’s a profile in courage for ya, thanks to a Naples Daily News report (snark intended, and bolding is mine):
U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart said he wants straight answers from his GOP presidential nominee, but Donald Trump hasn't given them.
...
"I demand, on these issues that are very important issues to our country, to the folks that I represent, I demand a clarification. And, that’s where I stand,” Diaz-Balart said in an interview Friday, adding that it's still his "intention" to vote for Trump.
You got that? The Congressman from South Florida demands a clarification from his party’s Presidential nominee! But he’ll vote for him anyway!
Patricia Mazzei of the Miami Herald recently wrote in the paper’s Naked Politics FL section that Rep. Diaz-Balart is in a precarious position re: his support for Trump (this time, bolding belongs to the Herald):
In blue, Hispanic Miami-Dade County, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart is an outlier: He's the only local Republican congressman who's maintained he'll vote for Donald Trump.
Except Diaz-Balart doesn't actually say Trump. His written statements mention backing the "nominee." When he goes on Spanish-language TV news shows, Diaz-Balart makes a point to separate himself from some of Trump's positions and comments.
So, is Diaz-Balart reconsidering?
Diaz-Balart's spokeswoman, Katrina Valdes, referred a Miami Herald reporter to the congressman's statement from May, in which he said he intended to vote for "the Republican nominee" and wouldn't consider voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton.
So...I’m taking Diaz-Balart’s “reconsidering” of his party’s nominee as a no.
Congressman Diaz-Balart represents Florida’s 25th district, which stretches from western suburban Miami across the Everglades to communities east of Naples. As dKos writer Kerry Eleved points out, Florida’s Latino voting population is trending leftward. She cites a recent New York Times article studying this trend:
“The Hispanic vote in Florida was reliably conservative and now is becoming reliably Democrat,” said Fernand R. Amandi, a pollster who has extensively surveyed Latinos in this crucial swing state whose 29 electoral votes are very much up for grabs, and could determine the outcome of the presidential race.
This could be bad news for Rep. Diaz-Balart, who even as recently as last week took a tepid straddling-the-fence stance on the Newsweek report of Trump’s violating the Cuban embargo, even though Diaz-Balart himself is staunchly against Obama’s Cuban reengagement policy:
The congressman, an anti-Castro hardliner who's said he plans to vote for "the Republican nominee," told reporters he hopes Trump will answer questions raised by the report published Thursday by Newsweek.
"They're very serious allegations," Diaz-Balart said. But he added that "up to now, it looks like there wasn't business" done in Cuba.
It makes one wonder, just who is Diaz-Balart representing as a U.S. Representative? With his support of Trump, it doesn’t seem like he’s representing his constituents, 70 percent who are Hispanic, and Trump’s popularity among Florida Hispanic voters has sunk dramatically (bolding again is mine):
Trump...saw a significant decrease with Florida’s Latino voters in this week’s poll, which was conducted days after the first presidential debate. The pre-debate NLV [New Latino Voice] poll had Trump with 29.3% of Latino support in Florida. The post-debate poll now has Trump at 17.6%.
With his support of Trump, it’s becoming clear that Diaz-Balart is joining the ranks of “hedge-our-bet” Republicans like Paul Ryan, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, and others who disavow, or at least question, Trump’s outlandish behavior, outbursts, insults, racism, and what passes for “policies” while still affirming that they’ll vote for him. Whose skins do they think they’re saving?
Certainly not the American people’s, and more specifically not the people in Florida’s CD-25. Diaz-Balart: another example of putting party over people.
Enter Dr. Valdes.
A strong progressive Democratic candidate, Dr. Alina Valdes, has stepped up to the plate to challenge Diaz-Balart. She is passionate about meeting the needs of her fellow Floridians and promises to put people first. To put people over party.
Dr. Valdes is a champion for fair immigration reform with a path to citizenship, Medicaid expansion and health care for all, renewable energy and sane environmental policies, a living wage of $15/hour, an end to Citizens United and the “pay to play” practices in our elections, an end to senseless gun violence, and affordable public college. Read more about these and other issues in her vision for improving the lives of all Americans.
A Cuban-born immigrant raised and educated in New York, Dr. Valdes has devoted her life, and her medical practice, to caring for disadvantaged, impoverished, and/or homeless patients who are mostly uninsured and have a tough time finding quality medical care. She’s also served with the Broward County Medical Reserve Corp, a division of the State Emergency Responders and Volunteers of Florida, to offer medical services during emergencies.
Dr. Valdes does not rely on SuperPAC donations for her campaign, but instead on grassroots donations from supporters like us. You can donate via her ActBlue page, and if you’re in the South Florida area, you can also sign up to volunteer for her in the final weeks of the election season.
You can find Dr. Valdes on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. She’s also a 90for90 candidate—90for90 is a nationwide effort to elect more Democrats to all levels of office.
She’s also happy to engage as an open and accessible candidate right here on Daily Kos, so if she pops into one of your diaries, give her a warm welcome.
Let’s turn Florida’s Congressional delegation blue! Let’s elect a strong progressive Democrat to the House in November.