The Nation - News from Aug. 16, 1989

A Miami lawyer who said he was running for “an American seat” decisively captured the Democratic nomination over a Cuban-born woman in an ethnically tense battle to succeed the late Rep. Claude Pepper. Pepper’s seat could still be filled by the first Cuban-American in Congress because Gerald Richman, winner of the Democratic run-off, must face Havana-born Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in an Aug. 29. election. Richman, a 47-year-old former Florida Bar Assn. president making his first run for office, defeated Rosario Kennedy, 44, who resigned after four years as a Miami city commissioner to run in the special election. With all of 146 precincts reporting unofficial returns, Richman had 14,411 votes, or 61%, to 9,226 votes, or 39%, for Kennedy. President Bush will campaign with Republican state Sen. Ros-Lehtinen, 37, in Miami today.