# Eliott Rodriguez **Eliott Rodriguez** (born 1956) is a retired South Florida television news anchor and the Democratic nominee for **Florida's 27th Congressional District**, the Miami-Dade seat held by Republican Rep. [[María Elvira Salazar]]. Both are Cuban American former television journalists. Ratings, money and outside spending are tracked at [[FL-27-2026]]. ## Background Rodriguez was born in New York City to Cuban immigrant parents and spent his early years in the Bronx before his family moved to Miami when he was 12. He graduated from the University of Miami. He spent nearly five decades in journalism. After early work in South Florida, he reported in Philadelphia in the 1980s, then returned to Miami television. In 1999 he joined WFOR-TV, the CBS station in Miami, where he anchored for about 25 years. His career spanned the Mariel boatlift, Hurricane Andrew and the 2021 Surfside condominium collapse, with assignments in Cuba and at the Vatican. He won three Emmy Awards and four Edward R. Murrow Awards. In October 2014 he was one of two moderators of the Florida governor's debate between [[Rick Scott]] and Charlie Crist that became known as "Fangate," when Scott refused to take the stage for about seven minutes over a small electric fan under Crist's lectern. His final newscast was December 19, 2025. ## The campaign Rodriguez announced his run on March 10, 2026, saying the cost of living in South Florida and the Trump administration's treatment of immigrants had pushed him into politics. He describes himself as a lifelong Democrat, like his father. His platform leads with affordability, including restoring health-care subsidies that he says Salazar voted to take away. On immigration he opposes the administration's mass-deportation campaign and wants much closer oversight of [[ICE]], though he stops short of calling for the agency to be abolished. He has attacked Salazar's Dignity Act for offering long-settled immigrants no path to citizenship, calling it the "Indignity Act." On August 18, 2026, he won the Democratic primary over former prosecutor Robin Peguero, about 54 percent to 46. Forecasters rate the general election Lean Republican, and Salazar holds a large cash advantage. ## Connections - [[FL-27-2026]] · [[María Elvira Salazar]] - [[ICE]] · [[Immigration]] · [[Affordable Care Act]] · [[Cuba]] - [[Rick Scott]] · [[CBS News]] - [[2026 House Races Hub]] · [[2026 Midterms Hub]]