1989 Florida's 18th congressional district special election

1989 Florida's 18th congressional district special election
Florida's 18th congressional district
U.S. Representative before election; Claude Pepper; Democratic	Elected U.S. Representative ; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Republican

A special election to determine the member of the United States House of Representatives for Florida's 18th congressional district was held on August 29, 1989. Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen defeated Democrat Gerald Richman in the runoff vote, 53.14% to 46.85%. Ros-Lehtinen replaced Claude Pepper, who died in office from stomach cancer.

Changing demographics in Florida's 18th congressional district had moved the largely white district into a 40% Cuban American district. The election campaign followed this trend as the campaign was dominated by discussions of race after Republican National Chairman Lee Atwater declared that the district should become the "Cuban American seat". Democrat Gerald Richman ran a campaign with the slogan "This is an American seat" in response to Atwater's comments, and both Ros-Lehtinen and Richman appealed to their respective racial bases in the general. Ros-Lehtinen won a competitive campaign to flip the seat, and became the first Cuban American to serve in Congress.