The race for Florida's 27th Congressional District flared up over the weekend when President Donald Trump reposted on his Truth Social account more than a dozen posts excoriating incumbent Miami Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar.
The posts included demands for Republicans to replace her in the Nov. 3 ballot and comes barely a week after the president reaffirmed his support for her reelection.
The rift between the Cuban-American lawmaker and Trump erupted Sept. 16, when she released a campaign ad filmed outside the White House. In the ad, she slammed Trump's immigration crackdown as having "gone too far" and warned that Hispanic voters who previously supported the president felt betrayed by his deportation policies.
In response to the public fallout, Eliott Rodriguez — Salazar's Democrat opponent — issued a statement condemning her legislative record and political positioning.
"We're seeing Republican candidates across the country distancing themselves from Donald Trump, but María Elvira Salazar has become so politically toxic that now even Daddy Trump appears to be distancing himself from his problem child," Rodriguez said.
ALSO READ: Republican candidate in Florida runs ads criticizing Trump's immigration enforcement
"Maybe he finally sees what FL-27 voters already figured out: she can't be trusted, she stands for nothing, she's going to lose, and he doesn't want to take the blame for it."
Rodriguez called Salazar's campaign ad a "desperate political stunt to save her seat."
Salazar, who is seeking her fourth two-year term in Congress, finds herself in a much tighter race than expected against Rodriguez, a Cuban American and former South Florida television anchor.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report on Friday shifted the seat from "likely Republican" to "leans Republican," meaning it is viewed as competitive.
Cook Political Report is among several national election prognosticators now predicting a much closer race. Only a few months ago, it was considered a "safe Republican" seat.
The analysts at Cook Political Report wrote that recent polls and a "backlash among Hispanic voters toward the Trump administration has forced [Salazar] to play defense" and led them to shift their rating of the race.
Salazar's district includes Miami, Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay. Almost three in four residents are Latino.
Trump soundly defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 by 15 points, 57%-43%, in the district in the 2024 presidental election.
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