Three South Florida TV stations want to host a debate in the race for Florida’s 27th Congressional District. Only one candidate has said yes, and — again — it’s not the incumbent.
CBS 4 Miami, WPLG Local 10 and Telemundo 51 have each formally invited Democratic nominee Eliott Rodriguez and Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar to appear together before the Nov. 3 General Election.
Rodriguez’s campaign says it accepted all three. Salazar’s campaign has not, and a strategist working for her has signaled it won’t.
Sept. 1 was the deadline Rodriguez set when he challenged Salazar last month to three October matchups — two in English, one entirely in Spanish. He proposed Jim DeFede at CBS Miami and Glenna Milberg at Local 10 as moderators, with Telemundo 51 or Univision 23 handling the Spanish-language event.
But Republican consultant Ana Carbonell reportedly told Miami journalist Elaine de Valle last week that Salazar sees no reason to share a stage with Rodriguez, telling Political Cortadito, “She’s going to be taking her message to the voters.”
Carbonell also noted that Rodriguez turned down debate requests from former prosecutor Robin Peguero during the Primary Election, which Rodriguez won by 7 percentage points.
Rodriguez, who anchored at CBS Miami for years before retiring in 2025, has leaned heavily on the fact that he and Salazar are both Cuban American former TV news anchors.
“Congresswoman Salazar and I spent our careers asking public officials to answer tough questions. The same standard we applied to politicians as journalists should apply to us today,” he said in a statement.
“Perhaps Congresswoman Salazar’s refusal to debate is really a white flag — an acknowledgment that after six years in Congress, she simply has no answers for the cost-of-living crisis crushing Miami-Dade families. If she disagrees, then she should come to the debate, look the voters in the eye and explain exactly what she has done — and what she intends to do — to make their lives more affordable.”
Salazar’s stance on debating her opponents has shifted in line with her official position. As a challenger to then-Congresswoman Donna Shalala in 2020, she debated on CBS Miami in English and on Univision in Spanish.
Two years later, as the incumbent, she brushed off repeated requests from Democratic nominee Annette Taddeo and still won by a comfortable margin. And last cycle, she again ignored debate challenges from Democrat Lucia Báez-Geller, whom she ultimately bested by nearly 21 points.
In a Tuesday press note calling out Salazar, Rodriguez also highlighted the incumbent’s handling of President Donald Trump’s newly announced oil agreement with Venezuela. On Saturday, the New York Post reported that Salazar initially criticized the deal on X before removing her comments and, roughly an hour later, calling it a win for the U.S. and Venezuelans.
“A politician can delete a social media post,” Rodriguez said. “You can’t delete an answer you give standing before the voters.”
Despite Salazar’s repeated wins in CD 27, where she’s won three straight terms by growing margins, multiple forecasters have moved CD 27 from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee counts it among six Florida seats in play.
CD 27 covers Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Key Biscayne, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, South Miami, West Miami and part of Miami south of the Dolphin Expressway.
The General Election is on Nov. 3.