This November, voters will decide which party controls Congress. But first, primary voters need to choose their candidate.
CBS News Miami is profiling the candidates for the Democratic primary in Florida Congressional District 27.
Polling conducted by the group managing former CBS News Miami anchor Eliott Rodriguez‘s campaign shows he has 43% support among likely voters.
But one challenger says don’t count him out just yet.
Robin Peguero “confident” he will be Democratic nominee for Florida Congressional District 27
Robin Peguero thinks he can flip the seat.
“I’m ticked off with the direction of the country. I’m ticked off with my representative, Maria Elvira Salazar, who is not speaking up for people in our community, who is so beholden to one single constituent, that’s Donald J. Trump, and not the rest of us,” Peguero said.
At 40-years-old, Peguero may be a first-time candidate, but he’s not new to the political scene.
The attorney has served as a Congressional speech writer, spokesperson and Chief of Staff, saying he’s dedicated to public service.
“I’m confident that when I get my story out there, from going from Hialeah to Harvard to prosecuting homicides to defending democracy on January 6th, that people will resonate with that,” he said. “I’m a kid from Hialeah. I grew up here and struggling, working class with both of my parents. My father ultimately a school teacher, my mother a mail carrier trying to make it in this country, and they are the example of the American dream.”
While polling shows an early lead for Rodriguez in the primary, Peguero says he’s confident in his own chances in the general election.
“We also put out a poll that shows that me and my opponent basically are neck and neck with Maria Elvira Salazar, so that name ID isn’t translating to the actual contest against Salazar,” Peguero said. “It’s early in the process, early in the primary. We’re going to get out there one voter at a time, make sure they hear about me, and I’m confident we’ll be the nominee.”
Peguero calls himself “Democratic Capitalist”
Peguero is the son of an Ecuadorian mother and a Dominican father, running for office in a district with a large Latino population, many of them Cuban American with deep-rooted fear of socialism and communism. He says he knows all about those concerns and can relate.
“I grew up hearing the stories of the horrors of communism and socialism, the repression, the political prisoners, the starvation, the death, the autocrats who hold on to power,” he said.
He described the situation as “awful and terrible.”
“There should be no communism in Cuba. I myself, I’m praying and waiting for the day that they’re liberated, they have democracy. We don’t need that here, socialism or communism in the United States of America either. I call myself a Democratic Capitalist,” he said.
Peguero wants to raise minimum wage, end tariffs
Peguero said he’s ready to get to work on day one if elected and has some ideas for what legislation he’d like to champion.
“I’d like to overturn the tax breaks and tax giveaways to corporations and billionaires and instead provide middle class and working class relief,” he said. “I’d love to raise the federal minimum wage. I’d love to put a stop to the tariffs of the president (who) is basically taxing our own people, American citizens.”
Peguero says he is ready and willing to debate his Democratic opponents.
He says no matter who wins the primary, he’ll support the nominee.
“The stakes are way too high,” he concluded. “Our country is heading in the wrong direction. Middle class, working class people are left to fend for themselves. We need a champion in that seat. We’re not getting it out of Maria Elvira Salazar.”
The primary election is set for August 18th.
The general election is November 3rd.
CBS News Miami does not endorse any candidates in this race or any others.
