A new poll of Democratic voters in Florida’s 27th Congressional District shows former CBS4 anchor Eliott Rodriguez as the frontrunner in a crowded Democratic primary for Congress, his campaign reported Monday.
The poll — conducted by Miami-based firm Bendixen & Amandi International — shows Rodriguez holding a 27-point lead over his nearest competitor, former homicide prosecutor Robin Peguero. The survey found Rodriguez with 43% support, followed by Peguero at 16% and entrepreneur Richard Lamondin at 14%. Another 27% of voters were undecided.
“With a 27-point lead in the Democratic primary, Eliott Rodriguez is emerging as the clear frontrunner as voters coalesce around the candidate best positioned to win and defeat MAGA Republican Maria Elvira Salazar in November,” said Fernand Amandi, a spokesperson for the Rodriguez campaign, in a statement.
“After nearly five decades earning the trust of South Floridians as a journalist who told the truth and held leaders accountable, voters know Eliott and trust him to focus on the issues that matter most — especially lowering the cost of living and addressing the affordability crisis pushing too many families out of South Florida,” Amandi said.
Rodriguez entered the race last week to challenge Republican incumbent Maria Elvira Salazar, who has represented Florida’s 27th Congressional District since Jan. 3, 2021.
The former news anchor has pointed to Miami’s affordability crisis and immigration as key reasons for launching his campaign.
“Miami should not be a city just for billionaires and millionaires,” Rodriguez told WLRN. “Working people need help, and I’m going to be their advocate in Washington.”
Rodriguez retired as local CBS4 anchorman in December, a position he held for 25 years. His long standing celebrity standing in Miami — as well being the son of Cuban immigrants — has added a new momentum to the race. Salazar is also Cuban-American.
READ MORE: Ex-anchorman Eliott Rodriguez will run for María Elvira Salazar's Miami congressional seat
He said that as a TV reporter he “had the privilege of telling Miami the truth,” but as a citizen he has grown concerned that those in Washington are “focused on political theater and culture wars instead of solutions.”
To run in November against Salazar, Rodriguez must win the Aug. 18 Democratic primary against Lamondin, Peguero, and former Trump associate-turned-Democrat Lev Parnas. Former Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey dropped out of the race last year.
Robin Peguero, 39, formally announced his campaign last summer, saying his mission, if elected, would be to "cut costs for Miami’s families, strengthen our broken immigration system consistent with the rule of law, and protect the constitutional rights of all."
Lamondin, a Miami native and co-founder of the environmental services company ecofi, has positioned himself as a “political outsider.”
“I think the fact that I have built a business in Miami, that I have lived the Miami success story and that I’m raising my family here is something a lot of voters will respond to,” Lamondin told WLRN in September 2025 after announcing his campaign.
Parnas, born in the former Soviet Union to Jewish refugee parents, was a key figure in the events surrounding the first impeachment of President Donald Trump. In a campaign announcement last week, he said he is running for Congress to “clean up Washington’s corruption, hold the powerful to account, strengthen affordability, expand support for seniors and improve our desperately broken immigration system.”
Florida’s 27th Congressional District includes parts of Miami, Coral Gables and West Miami.
The district is considered more politically competitive than neighboring districts represented by Republican U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Gimenez, though the national Democratic Party has invested relatively few resources in the district this decade.
The area also includes a large population of Cuban, Venezuelan and other Latin voters — many of whom had families came to Miami escaping left-wing dictatorships in Latin America. Almost three in four district residents is Latino, according to the latest Census data.
National Democrats have labeled the Salazar seat as a target to win in 2026. The non-partisan Cook Political Report says it’s a “solid Republican” seat, meaning it’s not competitive.
Salazar won by roughly 21 points against former Miami-Dade school board member Lucia Baez-Geller in 2024.
Learn more about Democratic candidate Lev Parnas’s campaign here.
Learn more about Democratic candidate Robin Peguero’s campaign here.
Learn more about Democratic candidate Richard Lamondin’s campaign here.
Learn more about incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar's campaign here.
