dccc political memo
To: Rep. Frankel
From: Andrew Piatt, South Regional Political Director (cell: 817-368-6523, email: )
Date: October 26, 2015
Re: Carlos “CAP” Puentes (FL-27, Ros-Lehtinen – Miami)
Purpose of the Meeting:
Thank you for meeting with Carlos “CAP” Puentes. He is a retired U.S. Army Major and businessman. Puentes contacted the DCCC about running for Congress in FL-26 (Curbelo), but we have encouraged him to look at a campaign against Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in FL-27.
Talking Points:
· Please let Puentes know that while Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is a strong incumbent the numbers in her district demonstrate a clear opportunity to elect a Democrat. President Obama received more than 51% of the vote in 2008 and more than 53% in 2012. This is a unique trend throughout the country. There are very few Republican held districts where Obama did better in 2012 than in 2008. This speaks to the very real trend toward Democrats in South Florida and serious vulnerabilities in Ros-Lehtinen’s reelection prospects.
· Please tell Puentes that the DCCC is very interested in partnering with a strong candidate in this district and that we will be here to help him if he decides to run.
· Please ask Puentes if there is anything the DCCC can do that would be helpful to him.
Background:
· Puentes reached out to the DCCC through a consultant named William Medici. Their original plan was to run against Curbelo in FL-26. Andrew Piatt has had a few calls with them and stressed that we were not interested in a primary in FL-26 against Taddeo, but we are very interested in helping him defeat Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in nearby FL-27.
· Puentes has a great story of service from what he tells DCCC staff by phone. The challenge here will be raising funds to communicate that story in the very expensive Miami media market. Sophisticated donors are unlikely to believe that Ros-Lehtinen is vulnerable until Puentes raises large sums of money on his own.
Biography:
Carlos Puentes is a decorated Army veteran and a distinguished business executive who served two Fortune 500 companies including GE & Dell, Inc.
Carlos was born in Cuba and moved with his mother and father to the United States when he was six years-old.The family settled in Miami where Carlos went on to receive a ROTC scholarship and graduated from the University of Miami.
Shortly after receiving his commission, 2ndLt. Puente married his wife from Richmond, Virginia and the two of them set out to make a life in the Army where he would serve for 20 years and retire holding the rank of a Major.He and his wife have a son who recently graduated from law school.
Carlos was deployed to several Latin American countries including Columbia, Panama and Nicaragua where his leadership and experience was in great demand.He leveraged this experience when he accepted an executive leadership role with GE upon retiring from the Army.
Over the last 15 years, Carlos has continued to build a successful business career where he ran multi-million dollar business units operating in over 50 countries as well as his current role as Chief Operation Officer with Equiflor.
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FL-27 DISTRICT SUMMARY
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