Former CBS-4 Miami anchor Eliott Rodriguez said Sunday he's the best candidate to unseat Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, citing his decades-long journalism career and being a lifelong resident of Florida's 27th Congressional District.
"People in this district know me because they invited me into their home every night to present the news in a fair and objective fashion, a truthful fashion, and I worked hard to earn their trust," Rodriguez told Glenna Milberg, host of WPLG-10’s This Week in South Florida.
He added: "I am the only Democrat in this race who's from the district."
Rodriguez told Milberg he was born in New York to immigrant parents from Cuba. His mom was a seamstress in the city's garment district; his father owned a grocery store in the Bronx.
The family, he said, moved to Miami when he was 12 years old; he went to school at Shenandoah Junior High. He later raised his own family in the same district.
When Milberg pointed out that both Rodriguez and Salazar share similar profiles as telegenic, bilingual Cuban-American journalists running for office, Rodriguez rejected the idea that they are political mirror images.
"Maria Elvira Salazar and I could not be more different," Rodriguez said. "I was a straight-up journalist just reporting facts. She was a commentator giving her opinion for thirty years."
Rodriguez is competing for the Democratic primary nomination. The election is set for Aug. 18. Among his Democratic opponents: a former homicide prosecutor in Miami-Dade and the former investigative counsel for the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection attempt on the U.S. Capitol. The Democratic primary winner will face Salazar on Nov. 3.
The non-partisan Cook Political Report shifted the seat in recent months from "safe Republican" to a “likely Republican” seat, meaning the race is more competitive. The district includes Miami, Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay.
Affordable housing crisis
In talking about specific issues to South Floridians, Rodriguez said the region's soaring cost of living is at the top of the list, calling it an affordability crisis that is "in Miami on steroids."
To illustrate the point, Rodriguez shared a personal story about how the economic squeeze forced his own family apart. He recounted coming home one evening to find his wife in tears after learning their young daughter and son-in-law could no longer afford to live in the area after shopping to buy a home.
"They finally came to the realization South Florida is completely unaffordable," Rodriguez said. "So they moved to North Carolina."
Rodriguez said he fight for the restoration of healthcare subsidies, which he noted Salazar voted to remove, and spoke out against the Trump administration's "anti-consumer agenda" of tariffs.
Congress failed to approve extended subsidies for the Obamacare health insurance plans beginning with the new year, leading to sharp premium increases for tens of thousands of people in the state.
Immigration policy and Washington
Rodriguez also slammed Salazar's marquee immigration bill, the Dignity Act, rebranding it "the Indignity Act."
"You know why? Because it doesn't provide a path to citizenship," Rodriguez argued, claiming the bill fails to provide adequate protections or permanent legal pathways for South Florida’s diverse immigrant populations, including Venezuelans, Haitians, and Cubans. "It's only designed for people who work in the hospitality industry, agriculture, and construction, and we immigrants are much more than that."
Rodriguez accused the Trump administration of weaponizing immigration for political theater rather than seeking meaningful legislative solutions.
"They're not interested in solving the immigration problem. What they're interested in is demonizing immigrants, blaming immigrants for all that ails the United States," he said.
When pressed by Milberg on his stance regarding federal immigration enforcement, Rodriguez stopped short of calling to entirely defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement but advocated for sweeping changes and severe budget oversight.
"We definitely need to take a very strong look at ICE," Rodriguez said questioning why the agency commands such a massive budget. "I would look at their budget very, very, very closely, and I would not — I don't want it to resemble anything of what it looks like now."
Trump signed a bill into law last month that gives his immigration and deportation agenda a nearly $70 billion boost for the rest of his time in the White House.
The bill provides $38 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $26 billion for the Border Patrol. An additional $5 billion would cover unforeseen costs, according to the White House.
Moving forward into the primary, Rodriguez pitched himself as a pragmatic choice for a Democratic party desperate to reclaim ground in South Florida.
"What kind of Democrat am I? I'm the kind of Democrat that's tired of losing elections," Rodriguez said. "I believe that I am best situated to win this election ... because I fit the demographics of the district, and the people in the district know me."
Click here to visit Eliott Rodriguez campaign website.
This story was produced by WLRN, South Florida’s only public radio station at 91.3 FM, as part of a content-sharing partnership with The Biscayne Times. Read more at WLRN.org.