Florida Republican Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart says will not run for an 11th term

Fla.’s Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart will not run again

MIAMI — U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida says he will not seek another term this fall, stepping aside after two decades in office.

The Republican congressman made the announcement at a Thursday news conference. He said he was going back to practicing law.

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.

Diaz-Balart, whose aunt was Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s first wife, fled with his family to Miami as a child.

He spent much of his career as an advocate against Cuba’s communist government, helping shape the U.S. government’s current policy toward Cuba.