House Democrats are in a tight spot on Venezuela.
Democratic party leaders are eager to blast President Donald Trump for his unilateral move to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and seize control of the nation’s oil supply, among the world’s largest.
But that outrage is mixed with caution, given that some of House Democrats’ most vulnerable members this year represent seats in Florida that are home to thousands of Venezuelan exiles. In those communities, residents are cheering Maduro’s ouster and praising Trump.
Democratic members eager to reclaim the House don’t want to risk alienating a key constituency in Florida that is at least somewhat supportive of Trump’s operation.
“[The south Florida] communities are pretty happy,” said Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), the Democratic battleground leadership representative. “If the Venezuela transition goes well, it’ll work in Trump’s favor. If it doesn’t, it’ll work against them.”
House Democratic leaders are aware they need to straddle that line and discussed the issue in closed-door meetings this week. “Leader Jeffries has really been very precision-like in the way he’s communicated that Maduro was a brutal dictator,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said.
Wasserman Schultz acknowledged that her constituents feel “elation and relief that an illegal autocrat is gone,” but added she’s frustrated the White House isn’t articulating what comes next.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) bemoaned the lack of Democratic nuance around the Maduro situation. “We should celebrate the fact that Maduro is gone,” Moskowitz said. “Whether we did it the legal way is another discussion.”
House Democratic leaders said they understand that certain communities may view Maduro’s ouster differently than anti-Trump progressives. Trump’s unilateral action without consulting Congress — and his threat to keep U.S. forces there for years — are their concern, not Maduro’s exit.
“We don’t lose a lot of sleep about Maduro not being in office,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (Calif.) said. “However, we are concerned about what the path is ahead.”
When we asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries how he’s accommodating his Florida members on the issue, he pivoted to bashing Trump for failing to facilitate Venezuelan self-determination.
We’ll note there isn’t synergy between the Trump administration and Florida Republicans about who should lead Venezuela.
The political backdrop. South Florida has a large number of Cuban and Venezuelan immigrants who fled repressive regimes. That population has been trending rightward politically over the past decade in part thanks to GOP claims that Democrats have embraced socialism.
Democrats lost two South Florida House seats in 2020, and a handful of other members saw their districts shift right at the presidential level in 2024. Among them: Wasserman Schultz, Moskowitz and Reps. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) and Darren Soto (D-Fla.).
Republicans hope to target some of those same members in a mid-decade redistricting. Democrats are wary of turning off Venezuelan voters by striking the wrong tone on Maduro’s fall. They also don’t want to shift attention away from any affordability arguments that can help win nationwide.
“A lot of states don’t have Venezuelan constituencies,” Soto said. “Most Americans are focused on the economy.”
