María Elvira Salazar (born November 1, 1961) is an American journalist, author, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 27th congressional district since 2021. She is a Republican assistant whip. Before entering politics, Salazar worked for the Spanish-language network Telemundo for three decades, after serving as a news anchor for Miami-based WSBS TV. She has also worked for CNN Español and Univision.
Salazar was the Republican nominee for Florida's 27th congressional district in 2018, losing to Donna Shalala. In 2020, she defeated Shalala in a rematch. Salazar was re-elected in 2022 and 2024.
Early life and education Salazar was born in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, the daughter of Cuban exiles. She grew up bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English. She spent part of her childhood in Puerto Rico.
Salazar studied at the Deerborne School of Coral Gables and graduated from Miami Dade College. In 1983, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from the University of Miami. In 1995, she received a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Journalism Salazar's journalism career began in 1983 as a general assignment reporter for the Miami television station WLTV-DT. In 1984, she served as senior political correspondent for the National News in Spanish television in the U.S. for the Spanish International Network, which later became Univision. In 1988, she began working as a White House and Pentagon correspondent for Univision. In 1991, she became the bureau chief at the Central America division of Univision while covering the Salvadoran Civil War.
In 1993, Salazar started working for the Telemundo Network, serving later as senior political correspondent for Telemundo in Cuba. In 1995, she interviewed Fidel Castro for Telemundo at the Cuban mission to the United Nations. She is said to have been the only U.S. Spanish-language television journalist to interview Castro one-on-one.
In 1996, Salazar was one of the two Hispanic journalists to participate in the only political debate in the 50 years after the Cuban revolution between two politically active figures: Ricardo Alarcón, the president of the National Cuban Assembly, and Jorge Mas Canosa, the founder and president of the Cuban American National Foundation and one of the most famous supporters of the anti-Castro movement.
Salazar worked at Telemundo until 2002, when she continued her career as a journalist with America TV 41 with her own political news show, Maria Elvira Confronta.
In 2006, Raúl Alarcón, owner of Spanish Broadcasting System, purchased Key West television station WSBS-TV and changed its name to Mega TV. Salazar changed the name of her program to Polos Opuestos under the new owners. She maintained the debate dynamic of her show, but renamed it Maria Elvira Live!Pertierra, Jose; Diario de El Paso: María Elvira, la Diva de la Tarde; Cuba Debate; March 9, 2011;
Salazar interviewed several individuals portrayed by actors in the telenovela Pablo Escobar: The Drug Lord, including the imprisoned Escobar lieutenant John Jairo Velásquez.
Salazar has said that after her interview with Castro, her second-biggest TV interview was with the former Chilean president, Augusto Pinochet, in 2003.Daugherty, Alex; GOP candidate Salazar says attacks of her interview with Fidel Castro aren't sticking; Miami Herald; August 25, 2018; Chilean judge Juan Guzman cited the interview as a legal basis to rule Pinochet "mentally competent to stand trial for human rights violations".
In 2013, Salazar interviewed Cuban dissident and blogger Yoani Sánchez in New York City.
Salazar has interviewed several public figures, including presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Mexican presidents Vicente Fox and Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Spanish president José María Aznar, and Colombian presidents Álvaro Uribe and Juan Manuel Santos.
Salazar has appeared as a guest on Fox News television programs such as Fox & Friends, The O'Reilly Factor, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle, as well as Mornings with Maria on Fox Business and on the conservative network Newsmax.
In 2016, Salazar returned to Mega TV as anchor of the night newscast.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2018
The Miami Herald reported in January 2018 that retiring congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who had represented Florida's 27th congressional district since 1989, had met with Salazar. Ros-Lehtinen said that her district was "totally winnable for the right candidate" from the Republican Party, adding that Salazar "could be the right candidate."
In March 2018, Salazar announced her candidacy to represent the district, which includes Miami Beach, most of Miami, Kendall, and parts of coastal south Dade County. The traditionally Republican district, which included wealthy communities like Miami Beach, Key Biscayne and Coral Gables as well as Little Havana in Miami, had been trending Democratic in recent years.
Salazar's Republican primary opponent, Dade County commissioner Bruno Barreiro, criticized her for her 1995 interview with Fidel Castro, in which she called Castro a "comandante", as well as a 2016 appearance on Fox News where she called Barack Obama's rapprochement with Cuba "noble". Salazar called Barreiro's attack advertising "defamatory", stating that "I have been one of the staunchest, most hardest critics of the Cuban Revolution on the air."
On August 28, 2018, Salazar won the Republican primary by a margin of about 15 points over leading rival Barreiro. Former Bill Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala won the Democratic nomination for the seat. The only debates held during the general election campaign were in Spanish. While Shalala did not speak Spanish and used an interpreter, giving Salazar an advantage, each candidate declined opportunities to debate the other in English due to scheduling conflicts. Although Hillary Clinton had won the district by almost 20 points in 2016—Clinton's best showing in a Republican-held district—polling as late as a month before Election Day showed Salazar either narrowly ahead or statistically tied with Shalala. Salazar narrowly lost to Shalala, who received about 52% of the vote.
2020
In August 2019, Salazar announced her candidacy to run in a rematch against Shalala. She was endorsed by President Donald Trump, won the August 2020 Republican primary, and faced Shalala in the November general election. The Cook Political Report, as well as various polling firms, classified the seat as "Likely Democratic", but Salazar won 51.4% to 48.6%.2020 Election Results, Florida 27th Congressional District, USA Today, November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2020. She was one of 19 new Republican women elected to the House of Representatives in the 2020 elections.Denkmann, Libby. Four Lessons From The Southern California House Seats Republicans Reclaimed In 2020, KPCC, 89.3 FM, Southern California Public Radio, Pasadena, California, December 3, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020. Shalala attributed Salazar's strength to the potency of the latter's socialism attacks among Miami's Cuban population, aided by Shalala having called herself a "pragmatic socialist".
Tenure
In late 2020, Salazar was identified as a potential member of the "Freedom Force", a group of incoming Republican House members who said that they were "fighting against socialism in America". Due to her COVID-19 quarantine, she missed voting on certifying the 2020 presidential election results in the House on January 6, 2021. On January 12, the day she was sworn in to Congress, she voted against removing Trump via the Twenty-fifth Amendment. On January 13, she voted against Trump's second impeachment.Trump second impeachment vote, The New York Times, WEIYI CAI, ANNIE DANIEL, LAZARO GAMIO and ALICIA PARLAPIANO, January 13, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
On February 4, 2021, Salazar was one of 11 Republicans who voted to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her House Education and Labor Committee and House Budget Committee assignments in response to controversial statements she had made about the Parkland and Sandy Hook school shootings, among other things. Salazar released a statement on her vote saying in part, "as I have repeatedly criticized Ilhan Omar for her anti-Semitic comments, I had to hold Marjorie Taylor Greene accountable for her denial of the Parkland Massacre, the Flight 77 crash, and accusing a Jewish family of starting the California wildfires. From now on, I will hold every Democrat to this new standard that they have created."
On May 19, 2021, Salazar joined 34 other Republicans and all Democrats in voting to approve the creation of the January 6 commission.
In June 2022, Business Insider reported that Salazar appeared to have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, a federal transparency and conflict-of-interest law that she had criticized her predecessor Donna Shalala for violating, when she failed to properly disclose an exchange of non-publicly traded shares for publicly traded shares in healthcare company Cano Health worth up to $500,000.
in September 2023, Salazar introduced the Crucial Communism Teaching Act, which passed the House in December 2024.
Committee assignments For the 118th Congress: Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere (Chair) Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development
Select caucus memberships Climate Solutions Caucus Congressional America 250 Caucus, co-chair Congressional Caucus Against Foreign Corruption and Kleptocracy, co-chair Congressional Hispanic Conference Flood Resilience Caucus, co-founder Friends of the Dominican Republic Caucus, vice chair House Republican Israel Caucus Republican Main Street Partnership Americans Abroad Caucus (co-chair) Republican Governance Group Tuberculosis Elimination Caucus, co-chair Congressional Blockchain Caucus Rare Disease Caucus
Political positions
Abortion Salazar opposes taxpayer funding for abortion. She has voted to restrict access to the abortion medication mifepristone and to eliminate resources for active-duty service members seeking reproductive care. She has received an A+ grade from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
Citizenship
Salazar joined Senator Marco Rubio in 2018 in suggesting that birthright citizenship should be "reviewed", citing claimed abuse of the standard by foreign visitors to South Florida. She has said she might be open to offering citizenship to some undocumented immigrants.
Donald Trump
Salazar said in 2018 that she wanted to do "whatever makes sense to the community"; of then-President Donald Trump, she said, "the president has used pretty insensitive words. I will talk to him in a nice, respectful way, because I do respect the institution of the presidency."
According to the Republican Accountability Project, Salazar voted against Trump's second impeachment but supported "[creating] an independent commission" to investigate the January 6 United States Capitol attack.