Tight Congressional Race Between Salazar and Rodriguez Looks Headed For Recount

On a night where the country saw a blue wave flood many red states, Florida stayed put with the Republican ship staying docked. But one important race has yet to be called.

The race for Congressional House District 27, an area that encompasses Coral Gables, saw incumbent Maria Elvira Salazar appear close to being reelected for a fourth term in a nail-biting race in which she was ahead by less than 0.4% of the vote. By Florida law, an election win with less than a 0.5% difference requires an automatic recount, allowing the uncertainty to continue into Wednesday Nov. 4, a day after Election Day.   

Her opponent, Eliott Rodriguez, is a first-time candidate who is a well-known journalist. He began working for the Miami Herald in 1980 and then transitioned to becoming a prominent anchor for CBS Miami.

Once polls closed Tuesday, the lead for the seat went back and forth throughout the night, and at one point was separated by only 100 votes. 

Both candidates are US-born citizens of Cuban descent, and it was important for both of them to gauge the support of the Latino community, considering the district holds over 500,000 Hispanics. President Trump’s controversial anti-immigrant agenda loomed large in the race, as Salazar, a long-time Trump supporter, aired a campaign ad in September criticizing his administration’s rough tactics and their negative impacting communities like this one and others across the nation. 

In Salazar’s other races, she has won with a wide margin. Even in 2024, when she won the district with 60% of the vote. 

Now, with the disapproval of the Republican party coursing throughout the country and communities having issues with how the execution of immigration policies have played out, this 2026 race was too close to predict.

On election night, Salazar and her supporters were at Milanezza, an Argentine restaurant located in the heart of Key Biscayne. Through the night many of her supporters were tense as they watched the national political trend, as seat after seat was flipped from red to blue. As one Republican-held state after another elected Democrats to Congress and to governor’s mansions, there was a visible dwindling of belief within her own supporters that it would be a good night. 

However, as the night progressed and the Florida election results for the gubernatorial and Senate races rolled in – showing that Byron Donalds had clinched a narrow victory and Ashley Moody would keep her Senate seat – Salazar and her supporters felt a victory was imminent.

“I’m pretty confident. It’s going to be a closer race than we like, but I’m confident,” said Michael Kesti, Chairman for Government Relations Group, LLC. 

There was an understanding that Salazar was supposed to come out much earlier in the night to give her victory speech, but with her ahead by less than a percentage point, the crowd waited for her appearance. Finally, after her taking the lead in the race with a 1,000-vote lead she stepped on stage around 10 p.m. to thank her supporters.

“The precincts have been counted and we are up more than a thousand votes,” Salazar said, as the crowd erupted in support. “We have prevailed against all odds and we have to give thanks to the Almighty.”

However, through the night at Milanezza, there was not a single thought within her supporters that a recount would be needed. But at Pub 52 in South Miami, where Eliott Rodriguez and his supporters were stationed there was a different belief. 

“Tonight, if you ever doubted that every vote matters, this is proof that every vote matters. And we are going to wait until every single vote is counted,” said Rodriguez. 

Regardless of the outcome of this race, the entire Congress has already been flipped to Democratic controls. But for Republicans, the District 27 race is important not to just keep a seat in the House, but to make sure that the blue wave doesn’t claim yet another seat held by Republicans.

Already, results of the Donalds-Jolly race may indicate just how purple Coral Gables is. A comprehensive tally by the Miami Herald showed that Jolly won 51% of the vote, compared to 48% for Byron Donalds. And overall, Donalds lost Miami-Dade to Jolly by seven points.

“There are still ballots to be reviewed, specifically 202 mail ballots in District 27 are undergoing the curing process, which gives voters until 5 p.m. Thursday to resolve any signature discrepancies,” said Alina Garcia, the Supervisor of Elections in Miami-Dade County. “Should a recount be ordered, it would not begin before this Saturday.”