Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who is seeking re-election, said Saturday he was in favor of lifting the United States embargo on Cuba.
Washington has had an economic embargo clamped on the communist-run Caribbean country since 1962, and the two have never moved off a Cold War footing in their ties.
"I have come to the conclusion that we need to lift the embargo," Crist told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of his campaign headquarters in Little Havana, a Cuban neighborhood in Miami.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
Crist said he wanted to visit Cuba, saying he thought it "important to go and see and learn, and see for myself."
Florida is home to a sizable Cuban-American community.
Crist was Florida's Republican governor between 2007 and 2011. He is seeking re-election to the post this year, but as a Democrat.
The U.S. embargo on Cuba was imposed during the presidency of John F. Kennedy, with the confrontation between the United States and Cuba one of the world's last Cold War-era disputes.
A study released in February showed that a majority of Americans were in favor of a change in policy toward Cuba.