Trump-Backed Republican Takes Aim At President In Bizarre Campaign Ad

Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) is trying a novel way to appeal to Republican voters in her Miami-area district, breaking from President Donald Trump’s immigration policies for going “too far.”

In a new campaign advertisement released on Thursday, Salazar, whose re-election bid was endorsed by Trump, calls out the president and argues that the administration’s immigration enforcement is alienating Hispanic voters who helped return him to the White House in 2024.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Salazar says in the ad. “Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy. The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

She then delivers a bizarre historical comparison. “You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism,” Salazar says. “I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land.”

The new advertisement centers on the number of people arrested by ICE who had no criminal record. “In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record,” Salazar says in the ad. Government data showed that 49,571 people were arrested by ICE in July, with more than half having no prior criminal convictions or charges. The term “no criminal record” in the government data does not include immigration violations.

Salazar has previously advocated for immigration legislation that would create a pathway to legal status for certain immigrants who have lived in the United States for years and passed criminal background checks. Her campaign’s latest message comes as immigration remains a defining issue for both Republicans and Hispanic voters. 

The campaign ad is running in the Miami market and was also released in Spanish. Salazar is seeking a fourth term representing Florida’s 27th Congressional District, where she faces Democratic nominee Eliott Rodriguez.

Salazar’s appeal to Trump is particularly notable because she has otherwise been a prominent Republican ally of the president. Trump endorsed her re-election bid in February, and Salazar endorsed Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign. Her constituents don’t seem to share her critique of Trump, who won the district by more than 14 percentage points in 2024, according to Politico. Despite this, in prior congressional races the district has been quite competitive.

A Bendixen & Amandi International poll conducted for Rodriguez’s campaign in late August found Salazar and Rodriguez tied at 45% among voters after undecided respondents were asked which candidate they leaned toward. The survey was commissioned by Rodriguez’s campaign. Perhaps due to the recent tightening of the race, Salazar’s campaign has increasingly emphasized her independence on issues involving the Trump administration.

In August, she briefly deleted posts criticizing a major U.S.-Venezuela oil agreement before reposting a revised statement supporting the deal while continuing to criticize Venezuela’s interim leadership.

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