Susan Whitman-Helfgot on Trump policy and Miami Latino voters
Sanctions and Endorsements Shape the Miami Contest
The current Administration’s crushing sanctions and blockade on oil shipments to the island have made Trump popular among Miami Cubans, newyorker.com reported. Right-wing politicians in Latin America allied with the White House have endorsed Republican congressional candidate María Elvira Salazar. Among them are María Corina Machado, the exiled Venezuelan politician who won the Nobel Peace Prize, and Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella.
Both candidates in the race have attempted to claim the mantle of anti-communism. Democratic challenger Joe Rodriguez has reported from inside communist regimes such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, once even interviewing Fidel Castro. Recently, Rodriguez attacked Salazar in a Spanish-language social-media post over the Trump administration’s partnership with the socialist government in Venezuela.
Rodriguez told newyorker.com that his family still lives in Cuba and argued that the administration’s economic strangulation of the island hurts ordinary citizens more than the government. “I think people have opened their eyes that Trump’s policy toward Cuba is not about restoring democracy—it’s about enriching himself,” Rodriguez said. Regarding the international endorsements of Salazar, he stated that he was more focused on families struggling to make ends meet in Miami.
Voter Registration and the Battle for No-Party Voters
National Democrats and their allies have largely abandoned Florida financially since 2020. Despite this, Susan Whitman-Helfgot, co-finance chair of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida, helped found the West Miami Dems voter-registration group after the 2024 presidential election to make Florida a swing state again. “You need to pull in the no-party voters. It’s not an easy sale, but it can be made,” she told newyorker.com.
Republican-led changes to state election laws will de-register voters who do not participate. A swell of disinformation aimed at disenfranchising Latino voters has also raised the stakes. Some Latino voters reported thinking they were not allowed to vote in congressional elections as independents, while others heard at church that they simply could not vote.
Latino voters are not a monolith, but the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has increasingly become a political wake-up call for those affected. “It changes when it’s personal,” Whitman-Helfgot told newyorker.com. “When you’re Venezuelan, and you’ve had a family member thrown out, it’s a whole different ballgame.”
Polling Data Reveals Shifts Among Venezuelan Exiles
A 2025 poll by Florida International University’s Latino Public Opinion Forum surveyed mostly long-term Venezuelan immigrants in Florida. The poll found that thirty-five per cent of respondents had a family member or close friend affected by the termination of Temporary Protected Status. A fifth of poll participants who had voted for Trump expressed regret.
Trump responded to political friction by utilizing Truth Social. After initially shrugging off questions about Salazar’s ad, he reposted more than a dozen attacks against her. “She is nothing but a back stabber,” one post read, adding, “I’m glad Latino support hasn’t wavered.” Another post declared, “So we need a NEW Republican to Replace Salazar.”
Salazar appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” following the ad release, stating she spoke with Trump and had a “fantastic conversation,” describing him as courteous and very receptive. Salazar has kept a relatively low profile in Miami since the ad’s release. Repeated interview requests to her office on Eighth Street went unanswered, though she later made a public appearance at a Mass at Our Lady of Lebanon, a Maronite Catholic church in Little Havana.
What remains unclear is whether Salazar’s recent public positioning will alter the electoral momentum generated by local Democrats, or how deeply federal immigration policies will continue to sway long-standing voting patterns among South Florida’s diverse exile populations.