Republican incumbent Maria Elvira Salazar won reelection in Florida’s 27th Congressional District following a machine recount that ended Tuesday, Nov. 10.
She defeated Democratic challenger Eliott Rodriguez by 1,086 votes, according to The New York Times, securing her fourth term in Congress
Following the recount, Salazar received 124,519 votes, or 50.22%, compared with Rodriguez’s 123,433 votes, or 49.78%.
Under Florida law, an automatic machine recount is required when the margin between candidates is 0.5 percentage points or less. The initial results from Election Day fell within that threshold.
Polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, with election officials counting ballots throughout the night. Salazar initially led, but her lead narrowed as additional ballots came in.
By Wednesday, Nov. 4, the margin had fallen to 0.46 percentage points, triggering an automatic review of the election results.
On Saturday, Nov. 7, Florida officials ordered a machine recount, which began Monday, Nov. 9, at the Miami-Dade County Elections Headquarters in Doral. More than 200,000 ballots were counted again.
The recount ended Tuesday, Nov. 10, with Salazar maintaining her narrow lead. The New York Times called the race around 6 p.m., one week after Election Day.
The election marked Salazar’s closest reelection challenge since she first won the congressional seat in 2020, when she defeated Democratic incumbent Donna Shalala.
Salazar and Rodriguez are both former television journalists.
Salazar has worked for major US Spanish-language broadcasting networks, including Telemundo, Univision and CNN en Español.
Rodriguez spent 25 years at CBS News Miami before leaving the station and announcing his congressional campaign in March 2026.
Immigration and affordability were two major issues throughout the race, both of which are important to Florida voters.
Salazar campaigned heavily on her record in Congress and her support for the Dignity Act, which promotes stronger border enforcement and a process that allows certain undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status without a direct pathway to citizenship.
Rodriguez criticized the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies for being too harsh and pushed for affordable housing initiatives and measures to reduce healthcare and insurance costs.
While Florida Republicans won the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races and retained the 27th Congressional District seat, Democrats made significant gains nationwide during the 2026 midterm elections.
Democrats secured control of both chambers of Congress, flipping more than 40 Republican-held House seats.
However, Florida remained relatively favorable to Republicans. Salazar’s victory allowed Republicans to retain a South Florida seat, even as the party lost significant ground across much of the country.