Florida GOP Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart will not run for 11th term; brother will seek seat

US Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart won’t seek 11th term

MIAMI — Florida Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart says he will not seek re-election after two decades in office.

The Republican is one of the country’s most prominent Cuban-American politicians and has been a strong opponent of Cuba’s communist government.

Shortly after Thursday’s announcement, his brother Mario, a congressman representing the district neighboring his brother’s, said he plans switch districts and run for the vacated seat.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart says he plans to return to his law practice.

He won a special election for Florida’s 21st district in 1989 and went virtually unchallenged until last year when fellow Cuban-American and former Hialeah mayor Raul Martinez ran against him.

His family fled Cuba for Miami when he was a child, but his brother was born in Florida.