Mel Martinez visited Miami for the first time since winning the hotly contested U.S. Senate race. He vowed to represent all Floridians, regardless of how they voted.

BY GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES

Newly elected Mel Martinez brought his victory tour to Miami on Thursday, thanking supporters and pledging to be a U.S. senator who represents everyone, ``no matter who they voted for.''

''Florida gets to have only two senators and I'm one of them, and I'm going to represent all Floridians,'' Martinez, a Republican from Orlando, told an adoring crowd crushed into his Miami-Dade campaign headquarters on Coral Way.

Martinez bested Democratic challenger Betty Castor by about 83,000 votes, in a bruising battle marked by its negative advertisements. He declined to talk any more about the controversial ads.

''We've that put behind us,'' he said. ``I took a lot of shots. That's not about today. Today is about uniting, it's about forgetting the past, it's about moving forward.''

Speaking in Spanish and English, Martinez, who left Cuba in the Pedro Pan exodus when he was 15, also thanked those who helped him ''achieve this historic landmark'' -- a reference to his becoming the first Cuban-American U.S. senator.

''It's a very special moment in history, and it's a blessing,'' said Elly Chovel, founder of the Operation Pedro Pan Group, an alumni association for the 14,000 unaccompanied children sent to the United States during the early years of Cuba's revolution.

''He is a man with a very compassionate heart, and he's going to do a great job,'' Chovel said, dialing her cellphone and sticking it to Martinez's ear so he could hear congratulations from a fellow Pedro Pan kid: Eduardo Aguirre, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington, D.C.

Martinez, a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development for President Bush, said he worked on bipartisan housing efforts during his two years in Washington. He will work with members of both parties again, he said.

For South Florida, Martinez pledged to work toward increased funding for construction of highway and transportation systems and to continue the Everglades clean-up. On Cuba, a primary issue for many of his Miami-Dade supporters, Martinez said he supports President Bush's plan, which he said he helped draft.

''The White House has always supported that human rights be respected in Cuba, and the plan that the White House built for the future of Cuba -- which is the one in which I have a part and of which I am very proud -- [includes] the travel restrictions, help to dissidents and all those things,'' said Martinez, who carried Miami-Dade in Tuesday's election.

On Wednesday, Castor said the results of the race reflected a Florida electorate that is fairly evenly split, but Martinez's analysis differed.

''This country showed a remarkable amount of unity, because we had an overwhelming majority elect President Bush. We've also seen a wave of Republican senators elected,'' said Martinez, who also held gatherings Thursday in Tampa and Orlando.

"So I think the country has made some choices, and I think now we need to move forward on them.''