Lincoln Díaz-Balart represented southern Florida as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011.
- Died: March 3, 2025 (Who else died on March 3?)
- Details of death: Died of cancer at the age of 70.
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Lincoln Díaz-Balart’s legacy
Díaz-Balart was born in Havana in the early years of the Cuban revolution. Fidel Castro, who became Cuba’s controversial longtime leader, was his uncle, married to his paternal aunt. Díaz-Balart’s father had been a close friend to Castro before the revolution, but politics tore them apart, and the Díaz-Balart family fled to Florida at the end of 1958.
Díaz-Balart was a Democrat as a young man and in his first political race, the 1982 Florida House of Representatives election. He lost that bid for office, and in 1985, he switched his affiliation to Republican. When he ran again in 1987, Díaz-Balart won, and he served in the state House for a single term before his successful run for state Senate. There, he served from 1989 until his successful election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992.
Over nine terms in the U.S. Congress, Díaz-Balart became known as a champion for his fellow immigrants and an opponent of Castro’s regime in Cuba. He worked on legislation around the Cuban embargo, including the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, which set out human rights goals to be met before the lifting of the embargo. He also advocated for immigration reform and Latino representation in the Republican Party. He was vice chairman of the Committee on Rules and served on the Committee on Homeland Security.
After Díaz-Balart chose not to seek reelection for a 10th term, his brother, Mario Díaz-Balart, ran for his seat and won.
Tributes to Lincoln Díaz-Balart
Full obituary: Miami Herald
