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Mario Diaz-Balart Faces Mary Barzee Flores In Florida's 25th Congressional District

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Florida's 25th Congressional District is Republican-leaning and has the state's most Hispanic-heavy and most Republican city of Hialeah.

The district includes much of southwestern Miami-Dade County and much of the northern portion of the Everglades.

Republican incumbent Mario Diaz-Balart has run unopposed during the last few elections.

His last name carries considerable weight in South Florida's Hispanic community, particularly the Cuban American community.

His brother Jose is a well-known anchor for Spanish-language TV network Telemundo. His older brother Lincoln was also a Republican congressman. His family is well known for having stood against communism in Cuba. The irony is that his aunt was married to late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Diaz-Balart was first elected to Congress in 2002.

Many political pundits agree that his last serious challenger was Joe García in 2008. Garcia was the former Executive Director of the Cuban American National Foundation and former chairman of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party. Díaz-Balart defeated Garcia with 53 percent of the vote.

In 2016, Democratic challenger Alina Valdes handily lost to Diaz-Balart, by a margin of 62.4% to 37.6%.

This time around his Democratic challenger is former Eleventh Circuit Court Judge Mary Barzee Flores. She ran unopposed in her primary.

At first Barzee Flores intended to run for the 27th district, but then decided to run against Diaz-Balart.

Democrats hoping to gain a seat in the House or the Senate talk about riding a "blue wave." Their hope is to retake control of Congress from the Republicans.

Barzee Flores will need a huge "blue wave" to knock Diaz-Balart off his Congressional seat.

The election will take place on November 6.

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