GOP María Elvira Salazar wins Florida election after clashing with Trump over deportations

Recount confirms narrow victory

A recount completed Tuesday, a week after Election Day, showed Salazar leading Rodriguez by roughly 1,000 votes. NBC News projected that she had won re-election in Florida’s 27th Congressional District.

Rodriguez, a former local news anchor, sought to make Salazar’s disagreement with Trump a campaign issue. He said Trump appeared to be distancing himself from her, but Trump never formally rescinded his endorsement.

Salazar challenges deportation policy

Salazar attracted national attention in September after releasing an advertisement criticizing Trump’s aggressive deportation approach. She said many Hispanics felt “betrayed” by the crackdown and that the administration’s tactics “had gone too far.” She also pointed to deportations involving people without criminal records. The clash placed immigration policy at the center of the contest in a district with many working-class, largely Hispanic communities.

Immigration shapes Miami backdrop

Miami has one of the largest immigrant populations in the United States and has been on the front lines of Trump’s deportation campaign. The county has more than 130,000 pending removal cases, the highest number of any county in the nation.

Salazar’s district includes several working-class Hispanic enclaves as well as some of the country’s wealthiest ZIP codes. Florida’s 27th District is also set to become the home of Trump’s presidential library.

A seat shaped by political shifts

Salazar first won the seat in 2020, defeating Donna Shalala, a former health secretary and former University of Miami president, in a major upset. Her victory foreshadowed the Miami area’s rightward shift in subsequent years.

In 2024, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate in 36 years to carry Miami-Dade County. Salazar’s re-election comes amid that political change and her public dispute with Trump over immigration enforcement.