Candidate Maria Elvira Salazar, U.S. House District 27

U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican, is seeking a fourth term representing Florida’s 27th Congressional District in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. She faces one opponent on the Miami-Dade ballot: Democrat Eliott Rodriguez, a retired South Florida television anchor. The district takes in parts of Miami, Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay, making it the congressional seat for a large share of northern South Dade.

At a Glance

Office: U.S. Representative, Florida’s 27th Congressional District
Area covered: Southern and coastal Miami-Dade, including parts of Miami, Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay
Party: Republican
Incumbent: Yes, in office since January 2021
Opponent on the ballot: Eliott Rodriguez (DEM)
Official House website: salazar.house.gov

Background

Salazar was born in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood to Cuban exile parents, according to her official U.S. House biography. She attended the Deerborne School in Coral Gables, graduated from Miami Dade College, earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Miami and later received a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Ballotpedia lists her birth year as 1961 and dates her University of Miami degree to 1983 and her Harvard degree to 1995.

Before entering politics, Salazar spent more than three decades in Spanish-language broadcast journalism. Her House biography says she began working in the field at 22 and went on to report and anchor for Telemundo, Univision, AmericaTeVe, MegaTV and CNN en Español, winning five Emmy Awards. The biography also notes that she interviewed Fidel Castro one-on-one and questioned leaders including Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Chile’s Augusto Pinochet. The Florida Phoenix described her as a journalist of more than 35 years.

Salazar lives in Coral Gables and has two daughters, Nicoletta and Martina, according to her House biography.

Her first run for Congress came in 2018, when she won a nine-candidate Republican primary but lost the general election to Democrat Donna Shalala, 51.8% to 45.8%, according to Ballotpedia. In their 2020 rematch she defeated Shalala, 51.4% to 48.6%. The South Dade News Leader reported at the time that she and Carlos Giménez both unseated Democratic incumbents in South Florida that year. She was reelected in 2022 over Annette Taddeo with 57.3% of the vote and in 2024 over Lucia Baez-Geller with 60.4%, Ballotpedia records show.

In Their Own Words

“No amnesty. No handouts. No citizenship. Just accountability and a path to stability for our economy and our future.”

Maria Elvira Salazar, on the Dignity Act of 2025, congressional press release, July 15, 2025

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far …”

Maria Elvira Salazar, September 2026 campaign ad, as reported by WLRN

“Now the choice is clear. We can keep moving South Florida forward”

Maria Elvira Salazar, primary-night remarks, Aug. 18, 2026, as reported by WLRN

“We have seen where socialism leads, and we will not allow it to take root here.”

Maria Elvira Salazar, primary-night remarks, Aug. 18, 2026, as reported by WLRN

“For the first time in decades, Havana is being forced to stand on its own, and it is failing.”

Maria Elvira Salazar, Miami Herald op-ed, as quoted by WLRN

Record and Priorities

Committees and stated priorities

Salazar serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on Small Business, according to her House website. The site lists her priorities as defending individual rights and liberties, economic development and job training, environmental resiliency, human rights and democracy in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, and support for partners including Israel, Colombia and Taiwan. It also devotes a section to her immigration bill, the Dignity Act.

Immigration and the Dignity Act

Immigration has been the central issue of Salazar’s tenure and of this campaign. On July 15, 2025, she and Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat, introduced the Dignity Act of 2025 with a bipartisan group of cosponsors, according to her office’s announcement. The release describes the bill as pairing border security funding, mandatory E-Verify and asylum-process changes with legal status and a path to permanent residency for Dreamers. It would also create a “Dignity Program” offering renewable, seven-year legal status to some undocumented immigrants, conditioned on good conduct and restitution payments, without a path to citizenship. The release says the program would be funded by those payments and application fees rather than taxpayer dollars.

WLRN reported that Salazar has defended the bill on social media in response to criticism, writing that deportations “of criminals and anyone who came under Biden will continue.”

In September 2026, Salazar released a campaign ad addressed directly to President Donald Trump, saying some of his administration’s immigration enforcement had gone too far. A CNN report republished by CP24 said the ad cited data showing half of the people ICE detained in July “had no criminal record.” According to that report, Trump later shared more than a dozen posts by other users criticizing her, while also saying he still supported her. Salazar told CBS’s Face the Nation she had a “very good conversation” with the president afterward, the report said.

The Florida Phoenix noted in March that Salazar had earlier called Trump the “Abraham Lincoln of immigration,” and in January 2026 wrote that she opposed mass deportations and the end of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans.

Federal budget and taxes

Salazar voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the 2025 budget law that included tax cuts and new immigration enforcement funding, WLRN reported. After the vote she posted that the bill was “more than legislation, it’s a victory for every American chasing the dream.” Her opponent has criticized the law’s effect on health coverage subsidies; see The Race below.

Cuba and foreign policy

Salazar supports the Trump administration’s sanctions on Cuba and its pressure on the island’s government, and she is close to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to WLRN. Her House website lists human rights and democracy in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua among her core priorities.

Birthright citizenship

WLRN reported that Salazar has supported limits on birthright citizenship and quoted a 2018 remark in which she said, “The Constitution says very clearly that those that are born here are citizens, but we need to see to what extent.” Her campaign did not respond to WLRN’s interview requests for its October 2026 report.

About the District

Florida’s 27th District sits in southern Miami-Dade County. WUSF described the district as based in south Miami and including part of Miami, Coral Gables, Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay. WLRN described it as running from Little Havana south along the coast to Cutler Bay and west into Kendall. The seat was held for decades by Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and has changed parties twice in the past decade.

Florida adopted a new congressional map in May 2026. WUSF reported that the new lines did not significantly change District 27. Homestead and the Florida Keys are in the neighboring 28th District, which WUSF reported also saw minimal changes.

WLRN’s coverage of the 2026 race identifies immigration, the cost of living and U.S. policy toward Cuba as its main issues, noting the effect of immigration enforcement on South Florida’s Cuban and Venezuelan communities.

What This Office Does

Members of the U.S. House serve two-year terms. They write and vote on federal legislation, approve federal spending and taxes, and oversee federal agencies. House members also help constituents with federal agencies such as Social Security, Medicare, Veterans Affairs and immigration services, and they can seek federal funding for local projects such as flood control and transportation.

The Race

In the Aug. 18, 2026, Republican primary, Salazar defeated V. Michael Arias, 29,225 votes (81.35%) to 6,701 (18.65%), according to preliminary results reported by the South Dade News Leader. On the Democratic side, Eliott Rodriguez won with 17,324 votes (53.51%) over former prosecutor Robin Peguero’s 15,051 (46.49%).

Rodriguez, 69, is a Cuban American former CBS Miami anchor who retired in December 2025 after nearly five decades in journalism, according to the Florida Phoenix. He has made affordability his top issue, opposes the administration’s mass deportations, supports restoring health insurance subsidies he says Salazar voted to remove, and calls the Dignity Act inadequate because it lacks a path to citizenship. A separate profile of Rodriguez is available in this voter guide.

WLRN reported in October that the district slightly favors Salazar on paper but that forecasters see the race as more competitive than in past cycles, and that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has added Rodriguez’s campaign to its list of top targets. In July, WLRN noted that the Cook Political Report had shifted the seat from “safe Republican” to “likely Republican.” Salazar won the seat by more than 20 points in 2024.

How to Vote

Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and voters in line at 7 p.m. may still vote.
Early voting in Miami-Dade: Monday, Oct. 19, through Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, according to the Miami-Dade Elections early voting schedule.
Vote by mail: Requests must be received by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. Completed ballots must reach the Supervisor of Elections by 7 p.m. on Election Day; postmarks do not count. See the vote-by-mail page.
Sample ballots, polling places and voter status are available from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department.

Community Leadership Alliance is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates. This profile is based on public records, candidate statements and news coverage, including the South Dade News Leader. Candidates who wish to submit corrections may contact us through our Contact page.