From Mother Jones · Laura C. Morel · · 3m
Trump's Latino support crumbles in Miami test race
A Republican congresswoman breaks with Trump over immigration, signaling how far his popularity has fallen with Hispanic voters.
In brief
A Republican congresswoman breaks with Trump over immigration, signaling how far his popularity has fallen with Hispanic voters. Trump's 2024 gains with Latino voters are eroding fast, and a tight Miami congressional race is exposing deep fractures in his coalition. Originally reported by Mother Jones.
Republican breaks with Trump on immigration
Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Trump-endorsed Republican from Miami, released an ad criticizing the president's immigration enforcement, saying Hispanics who helped elect him feel betrayed.
“The same Hispanics that helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
Salazar's specific complaint about ICE
She pointed out that half of people arrested by ICE in July had no criminal records, calling for a dignified life for immigrants rather than mass deportations.
Democrats pounce on her record
Opponent Eliott Rodriguez criticized Salazar for supporting the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which funded ICE, and for defending conditions at Alligator Alcatraz, a now-closed immigrant detention center.
“María Elvira Salazar did this. Make no mistake about it. She owns all of these deportations.”
Trump dismisses her but takes credit
Trump told reporters he disagreed with Salazar but called her a nice person, then added: I got her elected. Without me she wouldn't have gotten elected.
“I got her elected. Without me she wouldn't have gotten elected.”
The race tightened dramatically
Salazar won her district by 20 points in 2024, but a recent poll shows her tied with Rodriguez at 45 percent each. Earlier polls downgraded the race from solid Republican to likely Republican.
A test of Trump's Latino collapse
The Miami-Dade district is 70 percent Hispanic and a microcosm of how far Trump's support has fallen with Cuban Americans, a core Republican voting bloc that gave him significant support in 2024.
“This district is a microcosm of how far Latinos, and in this case Cuban Americans, which are a core bedrock group for the Republicans and Trump, have shifted.”
Salazar's earlier moderate immigration stance
Before the ad, Salazar sponsored the bipartisan Dignity Act, which created a pathway to legal status for Dreamers and undocumented immigrants who arrived before 2020. She also opposed ending TPS protections for Haitians and Venezuelans.
Salazar caught between two worlds
She's trying to defend her support for Trump while also proving she's a dedicated defender of immigrants. These two goals are diametrically opposed, making her position increasingly untenable.
Rodriguez brings credibility and distance
The retired CBS News Miami anchor spent nearly 50 years in journalism and is familiar to South Florida voters. As a Democrat, he can run on affordability and immigration without the baggage of being in the governing party.
Rodriguez's personal motivation
His daughter left Miami for North Carolina because she and her husband, both earning six figures, couldn't afford to live there. He's horrified by the affordability crisis and sees Salazar as a rubber stamp for Trump.
“I am horrified by what's happening in this country, and I'm also horrified that our representative in Congress has done nothing about it.”
National signs of Latino voter shift
A Colorado poll found 66 percent of Latino voters said the country was on the wrong track and 68 percent disapproved of Trump, suggesting Republican gains with Latinos in 2024 are vulnerable.
“Republican gains among Latinos are vulnerable.”
The key point
Trump's 2024 gains with Latino voters are eroding fast, and a tight Miami congressional race is exposing deep fractures in his coalition.
