Florida · U.S. House · District 27 · November 3, 2026

What it would take for Eliott Rodriguez.

Salazar starts 14.8 points ahead on our starting line from recent official results. Campaign work can move about 2,015 net votes toward Rodriguez, a 0.8-point gain. Winning outright would take a 13.9-point national wave on top of that. Here is the plan that makes Rodriguez the one standing if one comes.

35,036

net votes between Rodriguez and a win

days to election day. Early voting opens October 24.

14.8 pts

Salazar lead, our starting line from recent results

In short

One-page brief ›All Florida races ranked ›

A long shot on the math: it takes a 13.9-point national wave.

Odds today2%

Odds with the plan2%

Net votes to find35,036

WherePrecinct 051 (Miami-Dade County), Precinct 584 (Miami-Dade County), Precinct 854 (Miami-Dade County)

Underdog UpdateSeptember 26, 2026. Underdog plan published. Starting line: Salazar +14.8. Eliott Rodriguez needs 35,036 net votes. Odds 2% today, 2% with the plan.

The number

118,708 votes.

That is half of the 237,415 ballots we expect in this race, plus one. Where Rodriguez stands today, and what is missing:

100,328 Eliott Rodriguez baseline

135,364 Maria Elvira Salazar baseline

Starting line: a weighted blend of the official 2022 and 2024 results in this district (President and U.S. Senate in 2024; Governor, U.S. Senate and Attorney General in 2022). No 2026 polls have been published. 2026 turnout modeled on 2022, the last midterm.

The odds

2% today. A wave changes that.

We ran this race 20,000 times with realistic error on every assumption. Drag the slider to see the odds move as the campaign captures more of what history says is available.

Rodriguez wins in

of 20,000 simulated elections

With no plan

How much of what history allows the campaign achieves100%

The plan on this page sits at 100%. Median outcome at this setting: Rodriguez short by 33,024.

Each simulation draws the starting line with an error of 7 points of margin (no 2026 polls, so the starting line comes from history and carries more error) and lets the plan over- or under-deliver by 30 percent. Seeded and reproducible; the method and data are at the bottom of the page.

Three moves

The gap closes three ways.

Change minds. Bring out voters who skip midterms. Win back the third-party vote. Every pool below is counted from official precinct returns and published polls.

Persuade

1,589

net votes in the plan, from a pool of 1,589

Who. 1,589 voters who split their ticket in recent elections and lean Salazar today.

How. Live conversations on the call list that matters: voters who crossed party lines, plus the undecided. Rodriguez needs to win 50 percent of the ones now leaning Salazar.

Mobilize

167

net votes in the plan, from a pool of 2,939

Who. At least 2,939 people who voted in 2024 but not in 2022, in precincts where Rodriguez's side wins at least 55 percent.

How. Voter ID calls to people who voted in 2024 and skipped 2022, then a ballot chase until each one has voted.

Consolidate

259

net votes in the plan, from a pool of 739

Who. Voters who went third party in recent races, in the precincts that lean Rodriguez's way.

How. A direct appeal to voters who went third party last time. They have already shown they will leave the two-party default.

Together: 2,015 net votes against a gap of 35,036. Still 33,021 short. The rest needs a national shift of about 13.9 points that no campaign controls.

Where it is won

12 precincts carry 21% of it.

Ranked by the net votes each one gives the plan. The darker the county, the more of the upset lives there.

Fewer net votesMore net votes for the upset

01
Precinct 051 (Miami-Dade County)persuade
Starting line Salazar +13. 2.3% split their ticket.
+59
02
Precinct 584 (Miami-Dade County)mobilize
Starting line Rodriguez +17. 1.0% split their ticket. About 561 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
+40
03
Precinct 854 (Miami-Dade County)persuade
Starting line Salazar +14. 2.7% split their ticket.
+40
04
Precinct 587 (Miami-Dade County)persuade
Starting line Rodriguez +7. 2.4% split their ticket.
+37
05
Precinct 821 (Miami-Dade County)persuade
Starting line Salazar +14. 3.5% split their ticket.
+37
06
Precinct 803 (Miami-Dade County)mobilize
Starting line Rodriguez +21. 1.0% split their ticket. About 374 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
+33
07
Precinct 818 (Miami-Dade County)mobilize
Starting line Rodriguez +25. 1.4% split their ticket. About 298 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
+31
08
Precinct 532 (Miami-Dade County)mobilize
Starting line Rodriguez +15. 1.3% split their ticket. About 437 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
+31
09
Precinct 636 (Miami-Dade County)persuade
Starting line Salazar +6. 2.1% split their ticket.
+30
10
Precinct 802 (Miami-Dade County)mobilize
Starting line Rodriguez +16. 2.0% split their ticket. About 386 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
+30
11
Precinct 801 (Miami-Dade County)mobilize
Starting line Rodriguez +16. 1.8% split their ticket. About 386 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
+30
12
Precinct 825 (Miami-Dade County)persuade
Starting line Salazar +16. 2.2% split their ticket.
+28

What the numbers say that the polls do not

The hidden path.

Precinct 051 (Miami-Dade County) carries the most.

Precinct 051 (Miami-Dade County) gives this plan more net votes than any other precinct: 59. It sits at Salazar +13 on our starting line, and 2.3 percent of its voters split their ticket in recent elections.

Precinct 584 (Miami-Dade County) is a turnout race.

Rodriguez's side leads Precinct 584 (Miami-Dade County) by about 17 points on our starting line, and it cast about 561 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (an estimate). Roughly that many of its 2024 voters sat out the last midterm; bringing enough of them back nets 31 votes there.

Precinct 821 (Miami-Dade County) splits its ticket the most.

Of the precincts in this plan, Precinct 821 (Miami-Dade County) has the highest share of ticket splitters: 3.5 percent. That is where a persuasion call is most likely to reach someone open to crossing over.

Spend it where it counts.

As of July 29, 2026, Salazar had $2.26 million in cash on hand to Rodriguez's $325K. That is exactly why the plan puts every dollar on the few places listed here instead of the whole map.

The evidence

Where voters cross over.

Every dot is a precinct. If no one split a ticket, every dot would sit on the line. The orange ones are where Rodriguez's side lost voters it won further up the ballot.

Precincts: 212
Slope: 0.981
R²: 0.987
Residual SD: 2.5 pts
Crossover precincts: 36

Weighted least squares, one point per precinct, weighted by ballots cast. Orange precincts sit more than one residual standard deviation below the line: Rodriguez's side did worse there in this race than the top of the ticket predicts. Hover any dot for the precinct.

The next 37 days

Voting starts October 24.

Now to October 5
Find them
Voter ID calls across the persuasion list in these precincts. Every conversation tags the voter: with Rodriguez, with Salazar, or undecided. The undecided become the persuasion universe; the supporters become the ballot chase list.
October 6 to 18
Persuade
Second conversations with every undecided and soft voter, built around the one issue they named on the first call. The goal is 1,589 net votes from people who have crossed party lines before.
October 19 to 25
Bank the ballots
Vote-by-mail ballots are already going out, and early voting runs at least October 24 through October 31 in every county (some counties start October 19). Mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on November 3. Chase every supporter's mail ballot request until it is returned, and move supporters to early voting while it is open.
October 26 to November 2
Turn them out
The drop-off voters: people who voted in 2024 and skipped 2022. At least 2,939 of them live where Rodriguez is favored. Vote-by-mail ballots must be received by the county supervisor of elections by 7 p.m. on November 3. Requests for a mailed ballot are due by 5 p.m. on October 22.
November 3
Election day
Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time and photo ID is required. Florida has no same-day registration; the registration deadline is October 5. The last calls go to identified supporters who have not voted, with their polling place in hand.

What has to be true

No wishful thinking.

Official results in this district: Trump carried the 2024 presidential race by 14.8 points; Scott carried the 2024 U.S. Senate race by 14.2 points; Rubio carried the 2022 U.S. Senate race by 14.8 points.

Rodriguez wins 50 percent of the ticket splitters now leaning Salazar.
In Precinct 584 (Miami-Dade County) and Precinct 803 (Miami-Dade County), 35 percent of the people who voted in 2024 but skipped 2022 come back and vote.
The national environment moves about 13.9 points toward Rodriguez's side between now and November 3.
Published 2026 polls do not set the starting line here (every usable one is sponsored by one side), so it is a weighted blend of official recent results; an independent head-to-head poll would move it.

The work

744 conversations.

That is how many live voter conversations this plan takes: about 14,192 dials to 4,731 households, before the last ballot is cast.

4,731

households on the target list

14K

dials across three attempts

744

live conversations: persuasion, voter ID, ballot chase

Call list: every ticket splitter and undecided voter in the targeted places (you cannot tell which way they lean before the call), every targeted drop-off voter, and the reachable third-party voters. About 69 households for every 100 voters on the list, three attempts each, and a 5.24 percent live answer rate per attempt, the per-program average across 1.2 million real 2026 dials in our published benchmarks.

HyperPhonebank

We run this list.

Calls are the voter ID and ballot chase engine of this plan. They find the persuadable voters and the supporters, so every other dollar lands on the right door. The full call program for this list is an estimated $2,699 at our published rates: 4,731 households, three attempts each.

Professional live callers working exactly these precincts: persuasion on the ticket splitters, voter ID on the fence, ballot chase on every absentee request until it is returned. A live dashboard shows every conversation as it happens. Days to launch, not weeks.

Run this plan How HyperPhonebank works ›Size your own program ›

The candidates

Who is on the ballot.

Underdog

Eliott Rodriguez (D)

Son of Cuban immigrants and a journalist for almost five decades, including 25 years anchoring at CBS News Miami; his honors include Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards.

Cash on hand $325,097 and $661,173 raised since January 1, 2025, per FEC reports through July 29, 2026.

Campaign site ›FEC filings ›

Favorite · incumbent

Maria Elvira Salazar (R)

U.S. representative since 2021 and an Emmy-winning journalist who worked for Telemundo, Univision and CNN en Español before entering Congress.

Cash on hand $2,259,547 and $1,999,399 raised since January 1, 2025, per FEC reports through July 29, 2026.

Campaign site ›FEC filings ›Wikipedia ›

Underdog Updates

What changed, and when.

We re-run this race as new polls, fundraising reports and early vote counts arrive. Every change to the numbers is logged here.

September 26, 2026
Underdog plan published
Starting line: Salazar +14.8. Eliott Rodriguez needs 35,036 net votes. Odds 2% today, 2% with the plan.

Questions

Can Eliott Rodriguez win Florida's 27th Congressional District in 2026?

Only with help from the national environment. Campaign work can move about 2,015 net votes; the gap is 35,036. The rest would take a 13.9-point national shift.

Where are the votes Eliott Rodriguez needs?

Ranked by net votes in the plan: Precinct 051 (Miami-Dade County), Precinct 584 (Miami-Dade County), Precinct 854 (Miami-Dade County), Precinct 587 (Miami-Dade County), Precinct 821 (Miami-Dade County). Persuadable voters are counted from ticket splitting in 2022 and 2024 official returns; turnout targets are people who voted in 2024 and skipped 2022.

How many voters does Eliott Rodriguez need to persuade?

About 794 voters who lean Maria Elvira Salazar today, each worth two votes of margin when they switch. That is 50 percent of the 1,589 persuadable voters leaning Maria Elvira Salazar.

When does early voting start in Florida in 2026?

Early voting in Florida runs at least October 24 through October 31, 2026 in every county; some counties start as early as October 19 or add November 1. The registration deadline is October 5, requests for a mailed ballot are due by 5 p.m. on October 22, and vote-by-mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Florida does not offer same-day registration.

Who made this analysis?

The Political Group, an independent campaign services firm, from official Florida Division of Elections precinct returns, Census data, FEC filings and published polls. It is not affiliated with any candidate or party.

Method and sources

Precinct math from official Florida Division of Elections returns for 2022 and 2024, projected onto current district lines. Polls, ratings and fundraising as published on the dates shown. This is independent analysis by The Political Group, as of September 26, 2026. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any candidate or party, and it is written for every campaign that starts behind.

Statistics: a weighted least squares crossover regression on every precinct, and 20,000 seeded Monte Carlo simulations. The baseline error (7 points of margin) and plan efficacy spread (30 percent) are our stated assumptions. Download the precinct data (CSV, ready for JASP). Free to cite under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page.