Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar wins re-election in Florida after clash with Trump

Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar won re-election in her Miami-based congressional district, according to NBC News, after clashing with President Donald Trump over his immigration agenda.

A recount completed Tuesday, a week after Election Day, showed Salazar narrowly leading his Democratic challenger, Eliott Rodriguez, by about 1,000 votes. In 2024, Salazar won re-election by almost 20 percentage points.

Salazar gained national attention in September when she released an ad criticizing Trump’s aggressive deportation policy. She said many Hispanics felt “betrayed” by the crackdown and that the administration’s tactics had “gone too far,” with many deportations targeting individuals without criminal records.

Trump won Salazar’s heavily Hispanic district by 15 points in the 2024 presidential election. He responded to the announcement by amplifying social media posts that called Salazar a “traitor” and called for her replacement as the district’s Republican nominee.

Rodriguez, a former local news anchor, tried to capitalize on the divide. He said Salazar had become “so politically toxic that even Daddy Trump now seems to be distancing himself from his problem child.”

But Trump never officially rescinded his initial support for Salazar.

The close election sparked a legal battle after Rodriguez sued Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Alina García last week, alleging she was biased in favor of Salazar and should recuse herself from the recount. Rodriguez claimed that García’s son-in-law represented Salazar in the recount, which he said raised concerns about impartiality. Rodriguez also cited an interview in which García told the Miami Herald: “Maria Elvira is the winner, with or without a recount. »

A federal judge dismissed the suit Monday, saying the allegations made by Rodriguez were not sufficient grounds to remove García from office, while adding that García’s remarks had been “perhaps reckless.”

With one of the largest concentrations of immigrants in the United States, Miami has been on the front lines of Trump’s deportation campaign, with more than 130,000 pending deportation cases, the most of any county in the country. Salazar’s district has been heavily hit, as it spans several working-class, largely Hispanic enclaves, although it also encompasses some of the nation’s wealthiest ZIP codes.

Notably, the district is also home to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who previously represented Florida as a U.S. senator.

In 2024, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Miami-Dade County in 36 years. Florida’s 27th District is now set to be home to Trump’s presidential library.

Salazar was first elected to the seat in 2020, when she defeated former Health Secretary and former University of Miami President Donna Shalala in a major upset. This victory foreshadowed the rightward shift of the Miami region in the years that followed.