45th President Donald Trump endorsed Cuban-American Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., on Tuesday, saying that he was a “bold advocate for freedom” with a “strong record in fighting Communists and Socialists.”
Rep. Gimenez, who represents many constituents who fled communist Cuba, like himself, is running for reelection for the U.S. House in Florida’s 26th District in the Miami-Dade area.
“Congressman Carlos A. Gimenez is a bold advocate for freedom,” President Trump said in a statement on Tuesday.
“From Firefighter, to Mayor, and now a Congressman for FL-26, he is a proven leader who will fight for South Florida and who always puts America First. Carlos is strong on National Security, our Border, and is committed to a strong Economy,” he continued.
“Carlos Gimenez, a lifelong Republican, has a strong record in fighting Communists and other Socialists. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump added.
Gimenez, born in Havana, Cuba, fled to Miami, Florida in the wake of the communist Cuban revolution.
According to Gimenez, he and his family came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1960 with only $10 and a watch and lived in a home with 21 people in Miami.
He later worked as a firefighter for 25 years before serving as city manager, and later commissioner of Miami-Dade County.
After he was elected mayor of Miami-Dade County in 2011, Gimenez cut taxes, slashed his own salary, reduced the size of the government, and invested in airports and seaports to make Miami the “cruise capital of the world.”
While he supported Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign over Donald Trump’s, Gimenez later admitted that he “made a mistake” in endorsing Clinton, and staunchly endorsed Trump in 2020.
“[Trump’s] policies were the the right policies, and I could see that what he was doing was the right thing,” Gimenez said to Fox News in 2020. “I made a mistake [in 2016], and I’m not ashamed to say I did make a mistake.”
Trump later endorsed Gimenez’s 2020 congressional campaign, tweeting that he would be “Great for Florida, great for USA!”
Gimenez went on to defeat incumbent Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, D-Fla., in Florida’s 26th District by more than three points for a seat that many pundits expected to go safely blue.
In 2016, Trump lost the district by 16 points to Hillary Clinton. In 2020, Trump won the district by six points over Joe Biden, a sign that many communist country-fleeing Miami Cubans rejected Biden’s far-left proposals.
Gimenez also voted against the certification of Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results, and voted against the second impeachment of President Trump.
With President Trump’s endorsement, combined with the growing unpopularity of Joe Biden’s far-left policies, Miami constituents are bound to reelect Carlos Gimenez to the U.S. House in 2022.