1,116 Votes Separate Candidates in Miami-Dade Congressional Race

Residents of Miami-Dade County are waiting to learn who will represent Florida's 27th Congressional District after the November election ended with a margin of 1,116 votes.

The race between incumbent Republican Maria Elvira Salazar and Democrat Eliott Rodriguez is one of five uncalled seats in the state. As of Wednesday morning, Salazar had received 124,474 votes, accounting for 50.23% of the total. Rodriguez followed closely with 123,358 votes, or 49.77% of the total.

The .46 percentage point difference places the race within the range that triggers an automatic recount under Florida law. The National Conference of State Legislatures notes that elections split by less than 0.5 percentage points of votes cast require a recount within nine days. The Miami-Dade County supervisor of elections has not responded to requests for comment regarding the timeline for this process.

Salazar, a former television reporter, first won the seat in 2020 and held it in the 2022 and 2024 cycles. She supported President Donald Trump's immigration policies for much of her tenure but released an ad denouncing those policies after the House sent representatives home for the fall campaign. Rodriguez, also an award-winning journalist and the child of Cuban immigrants, is a political newcomer who secured nearly half of the vote.

Salazar posted to X on Wednesday, declaring that she has triumphed because she believes in the American dream and the freedoms that make the nation great. She stated that she will continue fighting for the community and the values that have made the United States the greatest nation on Earth. She described representing the district in Congress as the greatest honor of her life and noted that there is still much work left to do.

Neither candidate responded to emailed requests for comment by the time of publication. The district is located in Miami and is part of a group of five Florida seats, including District 26 in Hialeah, that remain too close to call. The other three uncalled seats are in Central Florida.

The outcome of the recount will determine which candidate retains the seat in the United States House of Representatives. The nine-day window for the recount begins once the results are officially certified.