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.[3]
Salazar's journalism career began in 1983 as a general assignment reporter for Channel 23.[10] 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.[11]
In 1993, Salazar started working for the Telemundo Network, serving later as senior political correspondent for Telemundo in Cuba.[12] 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.[13][14]
In 1996, she 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 Alarcon, 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.[15]
Salazar worked at Telemundo[16][17] until 2002, when she continued her career as a journalist with America TV 41 with her own political news show, Maria Elvira Confronta.[18] In 2003, she moved to Channel 22.
In 2006, Raul Alarcon, owner of Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), purchased WSBS-TV (channel 22), and the channel is now known as Mega TV. Salazar changed the name of her program to Polo Opuestos under the new owners. She maintained the debate dynamic of her show, but renamed it Maria Elvira Live!.[19][20]
Salazar has said that after her interview with Castro, her second-biggest TV interview was with the former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet in 2003.[22][23] Chilean Judge Juan Guzman cited the interview as a legal basis to rule Pinochet "mentally competent to stand trial for human rights violations".[24][25]
The Miami Herald reported in January 2018 that retiring Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who had represented the 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."[38]
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 includes wealthy communities like Miami Beach, Key Biscayne and Coral Gables as well as Little Havana in Miami, had been trending Democratic in recent years.[39]
Salazar's Republican primary opponent, Dade CountyCommissionerBruno 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", saying, "I have been one of the staunchest, most hardest critics of the Cuban Revolution on the air."[40]
On August 28, 2018, Salazar won the Republican primary by a margin of about 15 points over Barreiro, her leading rival.[41] Former Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala won the Democratic nomination for the seat.[4] The only debates held during the general election campaign were in Spanish. Shalala does 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.[42] 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.[43] Salazar lost to Shalala, who received about 52% of the vote.[44]
In August 2019, Salazar announced her candidacy to run in a rematch against Shalala.[45] She was endorsed by President Donald Trump,[46] won the August 2020 Republican primary, and faced Shalala in the November general election.[47]The Cook Political Report, as well as various polling firms, classified the seat as "Likely Democratic", but Salazar won, 51.4% to 48.6%.[48][5] She was one of 19 new Republican women elected to the House of Representatives in the 2020 elections.[49][50][51][52]Politico reported that Shalala attributed Salazar's strength to the potency of the socialism attacks among Miami's Cuban population, aided by Shalala calling herself a "pragmatic socialist".[53][54]
Tenure
Congresswoman Salazar introduces The FORCE Act against Cuba in January 2021.
In late 2020, Salazar was identified as a potential member of the Freedom Force, a group of incoming Republican House members who "say they're fighting against socialism in America".[55][56][57][58] Due to her COVID-19 quarantine, Salazar missed voting on certifying the presidential election results in the House on January 6, 2021. On January 12, the day she was sworn in to Congress, Salazar voted against removing Trump via the 25th Amendment. On January 13, she voted against Trump's second impeachment.[59]
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 school shootings at Parkland and Sandy Hook, among other things.[60] She 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."[61]
On May 19, 2021, Salazar joined 34 other Republicans and all Democrats in voting to approve the creation of the January 6 commission.[62]
In June 2022, Business Insider reported that Salazar appeared to have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, a federal transparency and conflict-of-interest law that Salazar 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.[63]
Salazar opposes taxpayer funding for abortion.[69][70] Salazar has voted to restrict access to the abortion medication mifepristone and has also voted to eliminate resources for active-duty service members seeking reproductive care.[71] She has received an A+ rating from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.[71]
Antitrust bill
In 2022, Salazar was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.[72][73]
Citizenship
Salazar joined Senator Marco Rubio in suggesting that birthright citizenship should be "reviewed", citing abuse of the law by foreign visitors to South Florida.[74] She has said she might be open to offering citizenship to some undocumented immigrants.[75]
Donald Trump
Salazar said in 2018 that she wanted to do "whatever makes sense to the community"; of then-President 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."[76]
Salazar publicly supported a carbon tax proposal by then-Representative Carlos Curbelo, which many other Republicans rejected. One of Salazar's campaign commercials vowed to fight for environmental protection in Congress.[79]
Gun policy
In March 2021, Salazar was one of eight Republicans to join the House majority in passing the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021.[80] She has called herself a "firm believer in the Second Amendment" while also saying that "ways must be found to keep guns out of the reach of those who should never have them, namely children, criminals and the mentally ill". She has endorsed criminal background checks and called for "effectively closing loopholes that allow criminals to have access to firearms." In October 2018, Salazar said she might also back an assault weapons ban.[75] She voted against the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022.[81]
In June 2022, Salazar voted to raise the legal age to buy some types of assault rifles from 18 to 21.[82] She was one of 14 Republicans to vote in favor of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
Healthcare
Salazar said that she would only support repeal of the Affordable Care Act if a viable alternative were presented. She opposed repeal of the ACA's mandate that health insurers cover preexisting conditions, but called for "free market" policies on health insurance.[76]
On January 13, 2023, Salazar reintroduced the FORCE Act, which "stops President Biden from normalizing relations with Cuba unless freedom and democracy are restored on the island".[85] She said that democratic socialism means "misery, oppression and exile".[86]
Salazar is considered an ally of Argentine President Javier Milei, the sole member of Congress to attend his inauguration, which was done at the invitation of the Argentine government. She argued that Argentina "is going to set the course and point of reference for the rest of Latin America as to the way that a country should be governed".[87]
LGBTQ rights
On February 25, 2021, Salazar voted against the Equality Act, a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation by amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to explicitly include new protections. Salazar said the bill "missed the mark by removing religious freedom protections."[88]
In 2021, Salazar co-sponsored the Fairness for All Act, the Republican alternative to the Equality Act.[89] The bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and protect the free exercise of religion.
In 2022, Salazar was one of six Republicans to vote for the Global Respect Act, which imposes sanctions on foreign persons responsible for violations of the internationally recognized human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) people, and for other purposes.[90][91]
On July 19, 2022, Salazar and 46 other Republican representatives voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.[92] On December 8, 2022, she voted against the final passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.[93]
In an effort to combat the rise of AI-generated deepfakes,[95] Salazar introduced H.R. 6943: No AI Fraud Act into the 118th United States Congress on January 10, 2024, to establish individual property rights to unique physical attributes, including voice.[96]
Salazar has won five Emmy Awards for reports on Nicaragua, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.[97] She was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50, made up of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists and creators who are over age 50.[98]
Salazar lives in Miami with her two daughters by her first husband, Renzo Maietto.[99][100]she married again twice(first with Cesar valladares) and last divorced with jose arellana was in 2024 [5]
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