This TV anchor may enter South Florida's most competitive congressional race

Claire Heddles, Miami Herald on Feb 10, 2026

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MIAMI — Newly retired CBS Miami journalist Eliott Rodriguez is considering a run for Congress in a South Florida district that Democrats are bullish about flipping from red to blue in November.

Rodriguez, who retired in December after 25 years on air at CBS Miami, is being recruited to run against Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, setting up a potential clash of news anchors with the former Telemundo correspondent.

Rodriguez, 69, covered news in Miami as a nonpartisan journalist. But he has been a registered Democrat for decades, following in the footsteps of his father, who joined the party after emigrating from Cuba to New York City in 1946, before the Cuban revolution.

He wasn’t considering a run for Congress when he retired from CBS Miami in December, but he’s been talking with friends and colleagues about the possibility in recent weeks. Rodriguez declined to comment on Monday.

“I cannot think of a better candidate than him,” said retired Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padrón, a luminary in Miami-Dade Democratic politics. “I know he would get a lot of support.”

In one of his first forays into partisan messaging, Rodriguez recorded a statement last month for a political group targeting South Florida’s three Republican members of Congress on immigration.

“I’m the son of Cuban immigrants who came to this country for opportunity and a chance at the American dream. This community was built by hardworking immigrants just like them. Yes, secure borders matter, but so does due process and our Constitution,” Rodriguez says in the video, promoted by Keep Them Honest PAC. “When our leaders stay silent as these rights are trampled on, that silence is not leadership.”

Immigration could end up being a deciding issue in the race. Salazar has openly criticized the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s aggressive enforcement in recent months, and championed a bill that would offer a path to legal status, but not citizenship, for immigrants working in the country. She insisted in a column in the Miami Herald that she has “never been silent” on immigration.

But Democrats say the backlash to Trump’s strategy has created a wider opening for a win in the Miami-Dade district, which Salazar won comfortably during her last two campaigns.

Democratic South Miami Mayor Javier Fernández said he’s not prepared to get behind Rodriguez immediately if he jumps in the race. Candidates Richard Lamondin and Robin Peguero have been campaigning for months, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and earning endorsements.

Fernández said he wants to learn more about Rodriguez’s Democratic politics first. But he sees the strong advantage Rodriguez would bring to the table, as someone who’s already well-known by voters.

“If you’re looking at mitigating risk — risk in terms of losing — Eliott certainly provides a candidate whose name recognition you really don’t have to spend a lot of money to build up,” Fernández said. “You can just get into the cycle of direct messaging against your counterpart.”

Miami-based wildlife photographer and conservation advocate Ron Magill — who turned down an effort to recruit him to run for Congress against U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez in 2022 — said he thinks a run for Congress “was the furthest thing from Eliott’s radar” when he retired.

“He was approached by people in our community, powerful people in our community who understand what I consider the crisis that we’re facing at this time,” said Magill, who’s spoken with Rodriguez about his potential candidacy. “I think he has been made to understand that he could be a very positive insertion into this quagmire of discontent, of hatred, of divisiveness.”

Michael Putney, who retired in 2022 after years as the senior political reporter at South Florida’s Local 10 news station, said he’s also had conversations with Rodriguez about whether he should mount a run. He said the prospect is “very exciting” and that he thinks Rodriguez would give the district “better representation.”

But, he said Rodriguez is still weighing the pros and cons of a run for Congress instead of the retirement he was planning.

“I went through the downsides of running,” Putney said, “and it can get dirty and can be nasty and I’m sure María Elvira would fight like hell to keep her seat.”