Season Finale: A conversation with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Latina elected to Congress

In the season finale of Panorama, Gil and Luis talk with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Latina elected to Congress. They discuss her nickname for Carlos Curbelo, why she is a conservative, stories from her congressional career, recent GOP gains with women and Latinos, what sort of messaging the GOP can employ going forward to continue improving with Latinos, the importance of a Smithsonian Museum for American Latinos, and why polarization has worsened as well as how to maintain friendships across the aisle. Afterwards, Gil and Luis reflect on the season and discuss their takeaways.

About the guest: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen served in the U.S. House of Representatives for thirty years as the member from Florida's 27th district. Her tenure marked many firsts: She was the first Latina elected to Congress, the first Cuban American, and the first Republican woman to represent Florida in the House. During her career she served as the  Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and led on issues like the environment, LGBT rights, and foreign policy. She is currently a Senior Advisor at Akin Gump LLP.

Ileana's op-eds mentioned in this episode:
"Where Is the Smithsonian Museum for American Latinos?"- New York Times
"The key to winning the Cuban American vote."- Boston Globe

Learn more, get in touch, and stay connected with us on our website, panoramapodcast.org. 

Transcript

Gil Guerra:     Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, welcome to Panorama!

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       Gil and Luis, I want to say, thank you. You are what our Cuban apostle Jose Martí, the liberator of Cuba, called “los pinos nuevos”. Here you are, you are young people and you're doing podcasts. I mean, this is amazing. So thank you to both of you for being the leaders of new generation of a conservative thought and to tell people that you can have your own thoughts and your own ideas, you can be conservative and conservative is cool too. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Luis Parrales:    I have to say for our listeners, this is a special episode, it's our season finale of Panorama so we’re very glad that that you’re here with us.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       Well, Luis, I know that you interviewed my very good friend, I call him Chucky just to make fun of him, Carlos Curbelo. But the great thing about Chucky is that he has two daughters and we've got seven grandkids, but one of our granddaughters is named Caroline and they take after my husband and my stepson, they're just Anglo, you know, like blonde hair and blue, white, and then, and then Chucky's girl Carolina, she's a little dark skinned. She’s what you would call, he would even say, you know, like a typical Hispanic as George H.W. Bush wonderfully called them, “the little Brown ones” and it wasn't demeaning, it was heartfelt. So Chucky's Carolina is dark skinned and our Caroline is just out of the Frozen movie, and they’re best buddies. They’re just together all the time. And I say, Oh my gosh, look at this. This is like a little piece of Americana. And anyway, I love Chucky and I hope that he listens to this because I like to make fun of him. *kisses* That's for you.

Gil Guerra:      We’ll pass it onto him. We were talking about this a little bit before we started recording, this podcast is really about challenging political misconceptions about Latinos. You're a very prominent conservative Latina. Can you tell us a little bit about when you realized you were conservative? What sorts of issues, what sorts of environments, what sorts of figures really led you to become a conservative?

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       Well, Gil, thank you for that question. I think I was born conservative. Why? Because we lost our homeland Cuba to communism. I came over. I mean, I was just a child. I was eight years old, but my parents left everything behind. When I think of my parents in their early thirties what they had to do to come here to this new country- they were never bitter. They were always so thankful for the United States of America. I grew up in a house where we talked about freedom and opportunity and human rights and democracy and sovereignty. And so to me, I didn't know that those were conservative ideas, but that's how I grew up. We cherish the United States of America. We want to go back to a free Cuba, understanding how difficult it is. But the Republican party is my party, even though this is not about parties, but it's about conservative philosophies.

I think I've always been a conservative. And now I have molded my thoughts into okay, what about what's happening in our society today? And I maintain that freedom to marry, marriage equality, gender equality, all of those are conservative thoughts as well. And so I had one of the groups called Conservatives Against Discrimination, along with the former Secretary of state of Kentucky, Trey Grayson. And we want to sell the idea to conservatives that to stand up against discrimination, that's a Republican value. That's a conservative value. I just grew up in that kind of household. We value freedom and opportunity, and there was no other way to go, that's in my DNA.

Luis Parrales:    We want to talk more about those issues, about your time in Congress, but taking a step back for a second, you've had a historic career, a lot of firsts in American history: first Latina elected to Congress, first Cuban American, first Republican woman elected to the house from Florida. There’s a lot there. Can you tell us a little bit about that? 

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:      I don’t get these questions anymore now that I'm a has-been, but Luis you're so right. When I first got elected, it was such a difficult election. I was against this guy, the Democrat, I don't even want to say his name. He was a former president of the Florida bar. He thought that he was to the Manor born, and his theme for the election was: “This is an American seat.” What does that say to you, Luis and Gil? It's telling the voters, “Hey, this little Cuban girl, she's not American.” That was his theme. This is an American seat. And so it was, it was bitter. It was not a great race. 

And of course, Florida elections, the computers broke down. The supervisor of elections passed out on the floor, it was really classic. And then it was like three in the morning, they were still tabulating votes. And we got a call from the Today Show and Katie Couric says, “How does it feel to be the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress?” And I'm thinking, well, Katie, I don't want to correct you and I'm sure that you mean well, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress, although I'm very happy to be in Congress, blah, blah, blah.

And she goes, Oh no, Congresswoman, you are the first Hispanic. And that's how I found out that I was the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress. There had not been much attention paid to that. Gil and Luis, let me tell you, I was so proud from that moment on, because I felt like I was going to be a role model for all the little Ileana’s in Miami and Los Angeles and Mexico and everywhere else where you could come to this new country, not speaking a word of English and rise up to be a member of Congress. 

Let me tell you what happened. I was the ranking member, meaning the top Republican on the foreign affairs committee. And Tom Lantos, a Congressman from San Fransisco who was very liberal, he was born in Hungary, naturalized American and the only Holocaust survivor ever to have served in Congress was the Chair. And Tom Lantos and I looked at each other and we said, one day, is this a great country? What? We have two naturalized Americans who are setting the policy in the foreign affairs committee for the United States of America. I mean, in very few countries could that happen. So I'm a proud American. I'm proud of my roots, but I've had the honor of serving with wonderful, wonderful people, including Chucky.

Gil Guerra:   That's fantastic. You've had a really unique perch in your time in Congress to view not only American politics but really the GOP and American conservatism. There have always been divisions, I feel like people oftentimes think that these fights are new when they're really old fights-

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       You are too young to know that, but that is so true Gil. I'm telling you, these are old fights that we're just renewing again. You're so right. You are both old souls.

Gil Guerra:  We got told that a lot.

Luis Parrales:   Gil more than me.

Gil Guerra:   So how would you define the current fights? What are people currently fighting over? Some people say it's Trump versus never Trump. Some people say it's populist versus establishment. How would you define the sides fighting right now in the Republican party?

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:    I think that right now when you see the Republican gains in the house, we were supposed to lose districts. We were supposed to lose incumbents. It was going to be a bloodbath. We remember the blue wave. 

Gil Guerra:  Right? Your old seat flipped to Maria Elvira Salazar.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:  Right, Maria Elvira Salazar. She framed her campaign against socialism, Carlos Gimenez, the former mayor of Miami-Dade County also really talked about our fight against socialism. So people were telling us, Oh, that's passé. Nobody cares. Well, you know what? People care. And they looked around what's happening in our country today. And they're worried. And I don't mean that this is black versus white. I don't mean that at all, but it's a fight about American values, meaning freedom, opportunity human rights, everything that we stand for as Cuban Americans, it really came to the forefront. And I am just so glad that we have a record number of Cuban Americans now in in the house of representatives and, and this Cubanita que también es griega from New York, Nicole Malliotakis, she is starting the anti-socialist caucus and I’m so proud. 

She's so great. And and I've met them all and I'm just so very proud. It's a new day in American politics. And we have a lot to be proud of as conservatives. We no longer have to hang our head in shame and sheepishly say and admit, Oh yes, I'm Republican, but I don't always agree with them. No, c'mon. And of course we don't agree with everything that your party says, no Democrat does. No Republican does, but I'm just so gosh darn proud that we belong to a party that accepts different points of view. And I think this blue wave, obviously did not materialize, no Republican incumbent lost their seat while remaining true to their values. And we picked up seats. And let me tell you, Luis and Gil, in two years, we are projected to reclaim the majority. Now I'm so old. I served in Congress, 30 years in the minority. I served with a Republican president, Democrat president, every which way. And it's just a great day in America when you to represent the United States of America in any configuration. So if we take it over, that would be great if we don't, it's just what a great country we have. It's just amazing to me.

Luis Parrales:      We definitely want to talk about those congressional dynamics, but I I'd love to pick your brain a little bit on the elections. You mentioned earlier the importance of the conservative movement, the Republican party being welcoming to minorities, being forcefully against discrimination, you've been pretty vocal about the need for the GOP to improve its standing with women, with minorities. The interesting thing about this election that I'd love to get your thoughts on is on the one hand you know, I think it's fair to say that President Trump at the top of the ticket was something that many people had concerns about with that question. Nevertheless, it seems that there were gains among Hispanics in particular. How do you make sense of that? 

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       Everybody said, even our leadership said, “Hey, if you need to run against the president, go ahead. We just want you to come back. We don’t want you to lose.” And what we found is that people did not have to run away from President Trump. It’s beyond President Trump. The American people saw what was going on in the nation and they said, you know what? We don't like this track toward socialism. We want level-headed folks. And I am really proud of the incredible gains that we've made. Also with Republican women, we were supposed to be wiped out. But leaders make a difference. Individuals make a difference. Elise Stefanik, I've served with her on the intelligence committee. And she is a standup lady.

She's unbelievable, what a freedom fighter. And she was unhappy with the GOP leadership because she said, you know what? You guys are not doing enough to help Republican women win primaries. And if we don't win primaries, we don't get to win in the general. And so she set up her own PAC, political action committee. She raised funds, she got money and she trained these women. Elise Stefanik and her Winning for Women PAC. So many conservative organizations teamed up. When I got the Congress, I was none of 13 of GOP women. Let me tell you, when I left Congress 30 years later there were 13 Republican women, no change. And now we've got a record high number of Republican women elected. So leadership makes a difference and hats off to all of the Republican groups, Winning for Women, Elise Stefanik, all of you, you made a difference. 

Gil Guerra:         That's amazing. And there's been a lot of talk, a lot of discussion about why Latinos swung towards Trump so much. You have an op-ed, I believe in the Boston Globe about this, me and Luis also wrote an op-ed that was in the Washington Examiner-

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       Well, send that to me.

Gil Guerra:          One of the things we talked about is one of the things that you've mentioned, this sort of more upbeat message in terms of freedom and the economy. There was an ad, I'm not sure if you saw this Ileana, that was set to salsa music and it had Donald Trump and it was in Miami-

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       That was the best. And then there was this great social media guy, Alex Otaola. He was wonderful. And he was a born-again Trump supporter. People make a difference. Leadership makes a difference and I'm so gosh darn proud of the people who stood out there and, and took their lumps because let's, let's be frank. Can we be honest? Is it popular with you Luis or Gil to say that Trump has some good ideas? Oh my gosh, that's just terrible. You're anti-women, you're anti-gay, you just can't say those kinds of things. But we're really proud of the individual voters who went out there and supported their candidate, whoever it was and to say “I'm proud of the vote that I'm casting”. And we had first time voters all over the country and they were very proud to vote their conscience. That's a great thing about this democracy, vote for whomever you want and be free to do it.

Gil Guerra:          Is that the sort of message you think that GOP can win Hispanics with going forward? That message of upward mobility, freedom. We saw a great gains not only in South Florida but also in say the Rio Grande Valley in Texas as well. 

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       Well, that is great research. Send that to me, Gil, if you could. You're right. This is a winning message. You know the GOP, you've heard all the negative talk we know from the Daily Show, all those telling you we’re a bunch of sheep and we just followed Donald Trump. It's not true. We have a winning message. That's self-actualization. You could make your dreams come true. You work hard. This is a great opportunity. Don't squander it. And if you are willing to work hard, the sky is the limit. Where there is discrimination we’re gonna smash those guys cause we're against discrimination, but we're for individual Liberty and the opportunity to make yourself a better citizen and to make your life a better life than your parents and your parents' parents. And that's what opportunity and freedom is all about. And I think that's a conservative message. You don't have to be Hispanic to believe it. I think that most people want to become better. They want to improve their lot in life. They want to provide a better life for their children. And I think that conservative philosophy really buys into that.

Luis Parrales:      Let's talk a little bit about polarization. We've lived in an era of just incredible overall polarization and partisanship. And in that sense, something that's interesting about you, that you've I think spoken out against that. So can you talk a little bit about that? What was your experience, what did partisanship looked like when you were in Congress? What have you observed?

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       It was bad. I think that things have improved a lot more, an incredible amount in Congress in the 30 years that I was there. Republicans were such a minority that Democrats thought oh well, another Republican got elected. It really doesn't matter because they were such an overwhelming majority. Now the races are so close and that's why politics has gotten so nasty in my way of thinking, because every election can change the leadership of the house. Every election is a wave election. We think that we're going to take over in two years, who knows if we do or don't, but that means that the stakes are high. And that means that a lot is thrown at you. Whereas before, when I got there before your parents were even born, Republicans were just, eh, it didn't really matter.

We were going to be a minority party forever. Now every election can be a majority maker election. And that's why it's tougher for members of Congress. And I feel bad for them because every vote is scrutinized. Everything they do has a magnifying glass and that was not the same situation for me. When I got elected 30 years ago, things were different. So every election is going to be a change election. I think we're going to take over in the house in two years, but I want to tell all the members of Congress, especially the ones from South Florida, like, like Carlos Gimenez and Marty Elvira Salazar whom I love, be careful, look at every vote, govern yourself accordingly, be serious. And all you can do is promise to your constituents that you will be honest with them and you will tell them, this is the way I voted, and this is why I voted. And that's all that people expect of you. They don't think that you're going to vote with them every step of the way. So I'm hoping that with the kind of quality candidates that we've been getting that is just going to get better and better and better every step of the way.

Luis Parrales:      I can imagine that puts a lot of pressure on the individual members that it's, you know, you're not voting as an individual member, you're voting as part of an overall coalition. What does that do to our governing?

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       That's a great question, Luis. I think that hats off to the Republican leadership, because they say, look, we want you to vote. Yes. But if you think that you've got a better argument, you want to vote, no, and it's better for your constituents. They tell you, vote your conscience. And I know that people think that the Republican party tells us how to vote, but they don't, they have suggestions, but you are free to vote your conscience. I know that doesn't fit what people pigeonhole Republicans as, you gotta march in in lock step. That's not true. And we have a lot of freedom, I think more freedom than a lot of Democrats, because they're, they've got a lot of pressure from the left to vote a certain way. And I'm really proud of our Republican party. And this Republican party is more accepting of different points of views as our Republican makeup becomes more diverse and people like Kevin McCarthy and Congresswoman Cheney understand people need that freedom to vote their conscience.

Gil Guerra:          You had a bipartisan career as a legislator-

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       Very proud. I was rated one of the most bipartisan members of Congress in my last years, especially along with my great friend, Henry Cuellar. He was the most bipartisan Democrat, and I was the most bipartisan Republican.

Gil Guerra:          Right. And you've been involved in bipartisan efforts even after retiring from Congress. The most recent one that learned about when doing research for this interview was establishing a Smithsonian museum for Latino history. Can you tell us more about that?

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       This is my passion. We just had, along with former Senator and interior secretary Ken Salazar, an op-ed in the New York Times talking about why we need a Hispanic, Latino museum. You know, there's a wonderful museum for African-American history. There's a great one for the native American population. There’s all kinds of women's museum, but where's the voice for the Latino museum? And why I'm excited about it is because it was show people that Latinos are not just César Chávez. I love César Chávez. He helped a lot of people out of poverty. He was a great labor leader, but when people think of Latinos, they just think César Chávez. He's wonderful. But I want to think about Celia Cruz who came from Cuba and she knelt on the ground and she kissed the ground. I was with her when we went to Guantanamo, real freedom fighter. And there's a great diversity of thought with Latinos. And I think this museum will once and for all tell people that you know what, not all Latinos are liberal, God love them if they're liberal, but there are a lot of conservative ones as well. So I'm really excited. This is my new passion to make this Latino museum a reality. And we will have maybe a whole exhibit for Luis Parrales y Gil Guerra, los pinos nuevos!

Luis Parrales:      And I will say, this is a good time to let our listeners know that before we were making this podcast both Gil and I were part-time salsa instructors in college. So, you know, maybe that'll be a bonus episode down the road.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       You do not want to see me dance. No, no, no. Don't say that, if you can teach me, please do.

Luis Parrales:      I think this project is amazing. And I think something that Gil and I have talked about on this podcast is precisely that the sense that people make the Latino community seem monolithic, oftentimes when it's much more diverse, much richer, more interesting in that sense. How do you understand, if somebody asked you this basic question, who are Latinos, what sort of issues, what sorts of characteristics, what draws us together as a community, even if we're coming from a bunch of different countries of origin?

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       You can do a doctoral dissertation on that question. I would say that we have great pride in our language, in our tradition, even if you can't speak Spanish, but we feel great pride about it. In our tradition, in our language, in our customs, in, in the celebrations of, of different holidays, we just feel such great pride of being Hispanic, Latinos, whatever you want to call it. There's a pride of roots, of traditions, of your language, of your customs. And you could be liberal or you could be conservative. It doesn't really matter, but what it tells me is you're proud of your roots and you don't mind people knowing, and you want people to know that you are Latino or Hispanic. So I really like it that we're becoming cool again. Gil and Luis, I'm telling you, you guys are cool, you could pick up a great date for Friday night, whatever you want, because you are the it guys.

Gil Guerra:          This is what I told Luis before podcast episodes to hype him up. One last question Ileana, a big part of this is talking to people who are currently college students, talking to people who are maybe a year or so out of college, people who are young on how they can be better about polarization, which is one of the things that we talked about, how they can be better at making those sorts of friendships. You live in a really diverse community. Your, your district has flipped in the past a couple of years, for example. So how do you make friends with people across the aisle? What sort of tips would you give our audience on maintaining those friendships?

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       Excellent question. And you know what Gil and Luis we've just got to let our guard down. And at the end of the day, we're just people who want to be accepted by others and taken in by others. Just say, you know what? I value you as a person. And there are many things that divide us, but we're just people at the end of the day, and whether you're this or that, or whatever category we give to ourselves I hope that people practice kindness to one another and be more forgiving. I saw the notorious RBG she said the best advice she got from her mother-in-law on, on the day she got married, she said learn to be deaf. What does that mean? You got to let things go.

You can’t fight a big fight about everything every day. And I like that. She says, you know, let it go. You can’t win every argument. And every not everything is the end all and be all, as an old lady, I'm 68. I, I think I'm 68, 67, something like that. I can tell you, you know, you just gotta let it go. Gil and Luis, you are passionate guys and so intellectual, but I will say to you, just let it go. You don't have to win every argument, especially with your girlfriend or your boyfriend. You don't have to win it, just let it go. And let's all be kinder to each other. Let's be warm and embracing, and that's a great conservative value. Just be kinder and let's have a better community, a better society and a better country. I hope that we do that.

Gil Guerra:          Excellent Ileana Ros-Lehtinen thank you so much for coming on Panorama. This has been a blast.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:       Gil te quiero mucho and Luis, thank you. You guys make me so proud of the next generation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Muchas gracias muchachos.