DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - The race between Democrat Eliott Rodriguez and incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar is too close to call, with both sides locked in a virtual tie.
As of Tuesday evening, both candidates are tied 50% to 50%.
Salazar spoke at a watch party at a Key Biscayne restaurant, and announced that she was up by 1,000 votes.
She said that she believes the reason she is leading in the vote is because of her stance on immigration.
“Every vote counts, and those people that came out and voted for me, it was immigration, it was immigration, and this gives me great strength to go back to my party,” she said. “And without insulting anybody. We don’t have to fight, it’s just a matter of course correcting and sending the right message to the voters. We gotta give the voters what they need: affordability, the economy, lower gas prices, but at the same time, immigration.”
Rodriguez, meanwhile, greeted supporters at a watch party in South Miami.
“I have never been prouder of anything that I have done, this campaign that we have ran, and the extraordinary people that had brought me to this point,” he said. “Remember, I am a first-time candidate. I am not a politician, and I ran out of a feeling that we could do better.”
Rodriguez echoed his opponent’s remark that this election is proof that every vote counts.
Both Rodriguez and Salazar previously worked as broadcast journalists before venturing into politics.
Salazar has held the seat since 2021.
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