Eliott Rodriguez reports $312K raised in 21 days for CD 27

Democrat Eliott Rodriguez hit the proverbial ground running in the race for Florida’s 27th Congressional District last month, raising $312,000 over his first 21 days, according to preliminary figures from his campaign.

Rodriguez, a veteran Miami TV news anchor, announced his candidacy for CD 27 on March 10. Over the next 21 days, he stacked more than $100,000 per week, his camp said, adding that the total came from “hundreds of individual donors.”

March 31, the last day of the first quarter, was Rodriguez’s strongest fundraising day to date — a sign, his camp said, of “accelerating support.”

“This is what consolidation looks like,” Rodriguez’s campaign strategist, Fernand Amandi, said in a statement.

“In just three weeks, Eliott Rodriguez has demonstrated the community support, financial strength, and voter recognition that campaigns spend months and years trying to build. Democrats, Independents and Republicans across Miami-Dade clearly recognize he is the strongest candidate to defeat María Elvira Salazar.”

Rodriguez is among several Democrats competing for the party nomination in a race to unseat Salazar, a three-term Republican lawmaker who won re-election with 60.5% of the vote in 2024.

Other Democrats running include former prosecutor and congressional investigator Robin Peguero, businessman Lev Parnas and entrepreneur Richard Lamondin, the latter of whom is rumored to soon be switching races for a Florida Senate bid.

Internal polling by Rodriguez’s campaign last month found he has a strong lead, with 43% of likely Primary voters saying they would pick him in August.

Peguero registered 16% support, while Lamondin had 14%. The rest — 27% of voters — were undecided.

Two days after Florida Politics reported the polling figures, Roll Call changed its designation of the CD 27 race and downgraded the seat from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican.”

It was one of five races across the country that the outlet is now considering “battleground seats and more legitimate Democratic targets.”

Rodriguez expects support to swell further behind him as the contest heats up.

“We’re building a campaign with a singular focus on winning in November,” he said in a statement. “This early support shows our community is ready to come together to defeat María Elvira Salazar and send me to Congress to deliver real solutions for South Florida to help make life less expensive and more affordable.”