Transcript of #BecauseMiami: Secret Republican

I'm Elliot Rodriguez here with breaking news about my life. For decades, I had the privilege of telling Miami the truth. You welcomed me into your homes each night as I covered hurricanes and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy. I listened, I asked tough questions, and every night I worked to earn your trust. When I stepped away from the anchor desk last December, my wife and I were looking forward to more time with our family, but something changed. I'm now watching the news not just as a journalist, but as a citizen, and I've grown deeply concerned that Washington is simply is simply not delivering. The people we send there are focused on political theater and culture wars instead of solutions. Concerned that we're drifting away from the values that built this country: decency, opportunity, and responsibility. Concerned our rights are being trampled on. I'm the son of Cuban immigrants who came here and lived the American dream. They taught me that citizenship isn't just a right, it's a responsibility. Today, I've made the decision to answer that call.

He's running. Wasn't clear, actually. I think the last time he was on the show, Roy, he was not a candidate for Congress. And we were having a conversation about his foray into politics by way of an ad campaign that criticized the Trump administration and its immigration policy. You obviously, as a child of immigrants, but Elliot Rodriguez, the Miami News, the Miami Herald, ABC, CBS, 3 Emmys, 4 Edward R. Murrow Awards. I only got one of each. And a silver— another one, something I don't have, a Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for 25 years of excellence in broadcasting. And now the Miami Herald endorsement in the Democratic primary for United States Congress District 27 seat in South Florida here, which is currently held by Republican incumbent Maria Elvira Salazar for the last 6 years. We can get to that case in a moment. What what the general election case looks like, which I'm guessing is anybody's life in Miami-Dade better now than it was 6 years ago? Pretty easy case to make there. But right now you are locked in a competitive Democratic primary with Robin Figueroa, a young guy whose background, he says, includes being involved in the January 6th hearings, kind of, I guess, positions himself as a young Democrat, new generation, new blood who fought against Donald Trump.

You are a lifelong Democrat.

Yes.

They're trying to, I guess, hold this against you, but in your work as a journalist— people don't remember, Roy, there was a time when we didn't sit at the Nochebuena table and talk about politics and religion and money. There was a time when professionally you could separate your politics from your job or from your work, which you did in journalism for a very long time. But now they're saying you're not a real Democrat, Elliott. They're saying I'm getting these mailers.

Look at that.

I mean, I'm getting, I'm getting these mailers— that are actually— it's the exact opposite of that. I'm usually— I'm usually getting companies, but this says here, let me read it. Rodriguez and his Republican support records show Eliot Rodriguez is backed by major Republican donors. It's got pictures of you here photoshopped with Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. Here it says Republicans love Eliot Rodriguez and Rodriguez loves that Republican money. So talk to me about your Republican money, Eliot. Where's that?

Well, I'd like to know where that Republican money is, Billy. You know, and you're right, I am a lifelong Democrat, and I've been a Democrat longer than that candidate has been alive. My dad was also a Democrat because he admired Lyndon Johnson for signing the civil rights law. But let me tell you something, I devoted my career to the truth. I devoted my career to reporting facts. There's no truth in that. That is— those are lies. Those are desperate lies. And It bothers me that a Democrat would try to beat up a fellow Democrat during an election that is so important. My—the person that I want to defeat is María Elvira Salazar. And if I need Republicans to do that—and guess what? I do need Republicans to do that. We cannot win this race with only Democrats voting for us, or otherwise we will lose. Yeah, if Republicans like me and will vote for me, I'll take those votes. We need those to win. And people ask me, what kind of Democrat are you? I'm the type of Democrat who's tired of losing elections. I would hope that's all Democrats in Florida.

Sadly, it's not. So before we get into the general, I know you have a case to make about how you can beat, right, Maria Elvira Salazar and Robin Figueroa cannot beat her in November. I want to stay on this primary. You said that you don't want, I guess, Democrat on Democrat violence, if you will. You don't want to be beating up on— is that the reason why you won't debate Robin Figueroa? Is that the reason why you have not shown up to a— I think he said that he's attempted to invite you to a candidates' forum for the Democratic primary in D27. Why won't you do that?

Listen, I got into this race late because I had an employment contract with CBS News. That was my employer. So I didn't get into this race until March. This particular candidate has been running for a year. He's gotten his word out. I am working my rear end off talking to the voters. I'm doing meet-and-greets. I'm doing events where we're raising money. I'm doing interviews en español, en inglés. I do it all over again. Before this, I did a podcast in Spanish. So I'm taking my platform and my case directly to the voters. So far, I have not heard any voter say, "What I want is to see a debate between you and a fellow who's been running here longer." We need to focus on defeating María Elvira Salazar. You know, there's a very wise man who said Democrats never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, and I want you to let you know that I am not one of those Democrats.

Who was it that said that? Uh, I don't think he's here.

Andrew Gillum? Is he here? Hang on, Andrew, are you here? Hey, hey, hey, I don't, I don't see him. Oh wait, is that the wrong guy? Is Miguel Gabela here?

Watch out!

Oh no, is he swinging from above? Oh no, duck! Sorry. Okay, so I don't know that that answers my question. I mean, it answers, I guess, a part of it in that you have a case that you need to make directly to voters. There's no doubt about that. And if I'm leaning correctly from that, what you're kind of saying is you don't want to give this guy the oxygen or the legitimacy of your presence. I'm trying to figure out— or is it what you were saying before when you were like, you don't want to be kind of punching laterally at another Democrat, you want to be punching up at the incumbent, the Republican incumbent.

I want to be punching up at the incumbent. She is the one that has the seat, and she is the one that we as Democrats have to be strategic and work together and not beat each other up. Again, nobody in the district has asked me, "Oh, you need to do a debate with the other Democrat in the district who's polling poorly and is spreading lies about you." That's not what we're going to do. And you know what, Billy? This is not a district that's going to be decided by the Democratic primary, as we see in other districts, where, "Oh, you're the candidate of one party, then you're in," right? Because you don't have opposition. What matters here is winning the general election against María Elvira Salazar. By the way, that picture you're looking at, me with Donald Trump, is photoshopped. I've never met Donald Trump. I have no desire to meet Donald Trump. And putting a picture of me with Donald Trump is one of the biggest insults you can do to me.

So I want to be clear on this because he's obviously spending a lot of money not going after Maria Elvira Salazar, the Republican, but spending a lot of money to go after you, a fellow Democrat, as you've said, a Democrat longer than he's been alive. Is that problematic, this kind of circular firing squad of the party? I am a recovering Democrat. I was fortunately only a Democrat from 2018 through 2024. Not a good period for being a Florida Democrat if, like you, you're tired of losing. Exactly. We are. We are notorious fairweather fans here in Miami, and we don't want to be associated with a franchise or a brand that are losers. And that is what the Democratic brand has become here. So let's then pivot. I want to spend the last few minutes of the segment talking about the general. You are making a case, and I'm guessing you have the data or the polling to support it, that you can beat the Republican incumbent, María Elvira Salazar, in November, and your primary opponent, fellow Democrat Robin Figueroa, cannot. Why do you say that?

Why do I say that? For the 40 years that I spent as a journalist in this district— and a lot of people know me from TV, but there's a lot they don't know about me. They don't know that we moved to this— to South Florida when I was 12 years old, and it was to this district. I have lived in different corners of this district for all those years, since I was 12 years old. I am a product of this district. I went to Shenandoah Junior High School, LaSalle High School, Miami Dade College, University of Miami, all in this district. I've lived in Coral Gables, Coral Gate, Kendall, Coral— Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, Brickell, all in this district. I am a product of this district. I know this district inside out, and the people of the district know me because they allowed me into their homes for so many years to deliver the news in a fair and honest manner, and I worked hard to earn their trust. And now what I'm asking is to earn their vote. And what I'm finding is that people are receptive. People say they are tired of the lies.

They're tired of people like Maria Salazar, who says one thing and does another. They're tired of her showing up at ribbon cuttings with a photocopy of a check that she actually voted against. And people have to fact-check her and say, "No, ma'am, you voted against those funds." And she says, "Well, I—" 'Better check with my staff.' And she's done that on several occasions.

But why you and why not Robin Figueroa? Listen, I think that's what a primary is really all about, is to make the case to voters in your party that you can win in November. So why is it that you're the person who can put the party over the top? Funny enough, I think you said it— made a point earlier that the answer may very well be in these attack ads, which is that, you know, I think in order to win an election, you not only need the Democratic base to turn out in this off year, in this midterm election, Democrats are banking to some extent on a depressed voter turnout from Republicans because the state of the country is shambles, basically. And the promises made by this president and his party have all been lies. And then you hope to obviously galvanize NPA's and you hope to maybe peel away of a few Republicans, maybe.

Guess what? Republicans, we need them in order to win. That is a strategy—

In the general election.

What you're looking at in those mailers is a strategy to lose elections, to continue losing elections by beating a fellow Democrat up, when I am the person that can win in the general. And how do I know that? Because we've done internal polling. Well, how do I know that? Because Roll Call, Cook Political Report and Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball from the University of Virginia in Washington downgraded—I know that's a lot of inside politics stuff—but they downgraded the district for her. From solid Republican to in play. So—and they said it's because there is a viable candidate in the race. And that candidate is me. So, as Democrats, we should be focused right now on defeating María Elvira Salazar, flipping this seat so that we can flip Congress, so we can put a check on Donald Trump and this administration of chaos, corruption and cruelty that we're seeing, that needs to come to an end. And María Elvira Salazar is a rubber stamp. For Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda.

I don't think there's any doubt about that, that she is the Trump surrogate in this election, which I think should galvanize turnout for Democrats and probably a lot of NPA as well. I'm wondering, and I'm not asking you to name names, and I don't know that any of them are on your donor list, as is being alleged here. But believe it or not, I talk to Republicans. Do you? So do I. I talk to Republicans. Wow. A lot of them talk to me. And they do. I will say that I am hearing this is purely anecdotal. I don't have— this isn't data, but I've talked to Republicans who have told me that they could see themselves voting for Eliot Rodriguez in a general election, which I was kind of surprised about. But I think it speaks to the disaffection that even Republicans have with Maria Salazar, and that if there is a candidate that they feel sufficiently comfortable with, as you have been a presence in this community, in this district for 4 decades, that there is maybe an opportunity here to flip the seat.

I think that has to do with the fact that those Republicans had the opportunity opportunity to know me before they found out about my political affiliations.

They didn't even— nobody knew you were a Democrat. No. Yeah. I was surprised to learn that.

It was nobody's business. I was a journalist, out of respect, because I respected my profession. And I am so happy with what the profession that I picked. I had a career, Billy. I'm not looking for a new career. What I'm doing is to do a service, because I feel that we are in a crisis in this country. I think that our democracy is under attack, our Constitution and our rights are under attack. Even the truth is under attack. An immigration policy that is cruel and inhumane. It's not even about immigration. It's about demonizing and dehumanizing people. And that's why I'm doing it. So, those people who may be Republicans or independents say, "Yeah, I know Eliot Rodriguez. I trusted him for years to report the news in a fair way. And now, all these years later, I find out about his political affiliation." And you know what? They're saying, "I still like the guy. I know that guy. I trust him." Listen, I grew up watching you on television.

I had profound, you know, growing up with profound trust and respect for you until I found out you were a Democrat. And I— and I'll try not to hold it against you, Eliot, as a proud NPA and recovering one-time Democrat. But thank you. Good luck to you. If you want to know more about Eliot Rodriguez and his agenda and his candidacy, eliotrodriguez.com. That's one L, two Ts, ElliottRodriguez.com. Thanks so much, Elliott.

Thank you, Billy. Appreciate it.

Roy, every election cycle, people hit me up and say, are you going to post a sample ballot to your social media? You're going to post a sample ballot. And when are you going to do Broward? I— I'm not going to do Broward. Why? You know whose problem Broward is? Roy!

You're goddamn right, meatball.

There we go. So, boy, I was rapid-fire with those. Getting carpal tunnel out here. So one of the categories of elections that people are always like, help me out with this, I have no idea who the hell these folks are, these candidates are, are the judges. Because we have to vote for judges, which I think is toxic. Well, I have a rule of thumb.

If the judge happened to be in the, you know, Federalist Society, don't vote for them.

Oh, you're a one-issue voter then?

Well, I mean, I got plenty of issues, but—

All right, he got volumes, right?

Volume, yeah, volume encyclopedia.

So, so no one's listening. So we have to vote for judges though. It's a thing we have to do. So I go through a lot of trouble, a lot of trouble, Roy. I talk with I talk with attorneys, I talk with former judges in this community to identify my judge selections. I know some of them myself. I do some of my own research, but I have to listen to the people who deal with judges on a daily basis or, or know they haven't been judges already if they're not incumbents or haven't been previously elected and they're practicing attorneys. I talk to them about their reputations and about their, their courtroom experience. And so These selections that I make are based on, for example, with incumbent judges. So my attorney friends, Republican and Democrats alike, will say to me, oh, just so you know, this judge was originally appointed by Ron DeSantis, or this judge was appointed by Rick Scott. That's my other rule of thumb. But I'll tell you the truth, for those people, no, I think that's a bad policy. I think that's a bad policy. And the reason is I don't care as long as you do your job well, you do it fairly.

You call balls and strikes. I ask these lawyers, when you practice in front of these judges, regardless or irregardless of who appointed them to the bench, do they play fair? Do they follow the law? Listen, I get sometimes a lawyer is going to win and sometimes they're going to lose. But I talk to lawyers who understand the game and say, hey, listen, I can't say that they allow their politics or the politics of the leader who appointed them to affect or infect the manner in which they conduct themselves in a courtroom and apply their orders and the law. So—

Calling balls and strikes. That's it. They also eject people.

I'm sorry, did you say calling balls and strikes? Yes. Sports! So— Sports! So, that said, I think a very good criteria, and I'm not a one-issue voter on this, but I think a very good criteria is because there are a lot of judges who are former prosecutors from that side of the world. There are a lot of judges who have done nothing but defend or prosecute civil litigation, which I don't knock it. If we ever get to that point in your life where you're on one side or the other, you're going to need a lawyer. But I think there are not necessarily enough judges who have experience as public defenders. And I think that that is as important, if not more important, to elect judges with that background as it is judges who have been prosecutors. There's a lot of people who spent a lot of time in Kathy Rundle's office, which, speaking of toxic, corrupt environments, who are judges on the bench. And a lot of them, or some of them, are not so good at that job because they are clearly biased to one side over the other and they do not call balls and strikes.

And that said, I did recommend— this is a woman I've never met before, but I talked to a lot of lawyers, her colleagues. I've talked to a lot of people in the course of preparing my ballot. I recommended Bonita Bonita Jones Peabody in Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Group 69. I expected you to do a goofy laugh on that. You heard me.

I'm not that type of guy.

Circuit Judge Group 69. Nope. Not going to do it.

Not going to do it.

Not going to do it. Roy! So, I mean, we can say that now. So Bonita Jones Peabody, counselor, she is joining us now live on the line. You spent, what, about 2 decades of your 3-decade-plus career in the law in the public defender's office, and you are running against Rita Maria Baez and Yaneth Del Carmen Baez. Is there a relation? Is there no relation? They have the same last name.

I don't believe that they're related. I know both of them. I don't believe that they're related, so I can't say for sure, but I don't believe so.

So don't make me look like a fool now, counselor, because, you know, like I said, we've never met. We've never spoken before that I can recall. Maybe we have in passing or somewhere out and about in the community. But make your case. Let's talk about your experience as an attorney. I know you have never been a judge before, but you have been inside of a courtroom in many many different contexts. I'd like you to compare and contrast yourself to the Baez sisters, or not sisters, or whatever. I don't know.

Well, first of all, 35 years of legal experience working in civil as well as in criminal, working juvenile, both delinquency and dependency, working, um, behind the scenes, even writing the memorandums of law for judges who had questions on the law, thinking like a judge, and having tracked that neutral— neutrality, being a neutral arbiter, not sliding one way or the other. I've had experience doing all of those things. I don't believe that the robe is a reward. I believe that it's a responsibility. And I think that it's a responsibility that anybody who seeks to wear it ought to be aware that it is a responsibility. I've spent so much time in the paint with people who society had cast out, cast aside, said that they were not politically correct, they are not someone that we would want to have dinner with, we would not want to have a drink with. Just put them aside, erase them, dismiss them. They're not worthy of our attention or for us to listen to them. And I've been in the paint fighting for them, but I also know what it is to have worked hard to obtain things. And then to have someone try and take it away from you as well.

So I know what it is to be abound and also what it is to be abased. This is my community. Not only did I do this in law, but I also did it in the civil section of it, where even as a 12-year-old, I was a Model City Youth Commissioner. In my community, there was an elementary school. The principal didn't want the kids playing there. There was no park in the area. There was an abandoned dairy farm. I went to the Model City Youth Commission and suggested that they make that abandoned dairy farm a park. They listened, and it became Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park, where now everybody gets to enjoy it. So advocacy was something that I did even as a child, trying to make this community better for everybody in it. I believe that there should be justice in every neighborhood.

You made the case for you. And again, I don't like that judges have to run for office because I think politics, especially in South Florida, is an incestuous cesspool. And I don't like that judges have to go out and fundraise, you know, that they have to have websites and they have to engage in the kind of political consultant class and all of that nonsense. It just— it makes for really strange and unfortunate bedfellows. And I would like to see our jurists above of that fray. And unfortunately, this is the reality. So I have to ask you, you have made the case for you and your background and your experience, but you do have two challengers in this Judge Group 69 here, one of whom is, I believe, an assistant state attorney, which, in my opinion, we have enough of those former assistant state attorneys on the bench in this community. We need some diversity of experience and resume, and you have that. You've worked in the criminal courts as a public defender. And then you have another challenger here in this election who appears to just have decades of private practice civil litigation. I don't know how often either of them have seen the inside of the courtroom.

I imagine the ASA has seen it more often, maybe not at trial, but at least by virtue of hearings and things like that. I really am concerned about the experience of your challengers. You've talked about you. Can you compare and contrast yourself and your resume to theirs?

I think in the difference is pretty much what you said is the breadth of that experience. What areas have they practiced in and what areas, you know, have— what have they done in that area? But also even more than in the practice areas, what have they done in the community with the law degree that they earned? Is it just for them, or is it something that they've used to better the community as a whole? I can't really say too much about my opponents under the canons, but what I can say is that if people go to the websites and look, don't just look at what you see, but look at what is not there. Did they go into the community and participate in legal clinics for people who could not afford them? Did they do any kind of civil work in any organization that is not legal related? What have they done that made the community better as a whole? That, I think, will give a good indication as to what they plan to do once they get onto the bench.

I'm guessing, Roy, that the answer is no to all of those kind of rhetorical but not really rhetorical questions. That's the thing, too, Roy, about this. It's like they're lawyers. They have— I mean, I mean, not that the Florida Bar is a real professional organization that actually holds anyone accountable, but to the extent that they do and that there are ethics and a canon, as Bonita Jones Peabody just mentioned, like, what's an election if you can't talk shit about your opposition? That's why— why are they even— why are judges even— why do you even run for judge when you're hamstrung by what you can even, you know, talk about and consider in a race? I mean, I don't know. It's all very messy and sloppy to me. And like I said, I talked to lawyers. I looked at the backgrounds, to Bonita's point, of these other attorneys, and I was far more impressed with Bonita's CV and her experience than any of the others. Just again, just objectively, I don't know you now. This is the first time I think I'm ever laying eyes on you. Not— I was gonna say in the flesh. It's not— it's not even— it's not even in the flesh.

It's, it's, it's via Zoom. But I appreciate you being here and making your case like a good attorney.

You know, one of the things If I may, I just wanted to say this too. I took pride in the supervising and training of hundreds of young lawyers that came through the Public Defender's Office and some of those who were not in the Public Defender's Office and mentoring. I knew that my spirit of excellence in representing the person standing next to me, that I would want to be the lawyer that I would want to have if me or my loved one needed a lawyer. And I wanted to make sure that they were trained with that same kind of excellence, and they've gone out and they've done some pretty wonderful, marvelous things. They stay in contact. And I think that that is the greatest testament of what I've done in this legal profession of all.

I did have one last question. I actually, it's funny that, that really, you know, it's a good line, but it also, it touched me. I very briefly taught a college class many years ago, and it was, it was many years ago to the point where a lot of those students went out into the world, into the workforce. It was a filmmaking courses that I taught one night a week, and I didn't really understand— I was much younger then. I didn't really understand the joy of like hearing from former students who like remember things that you've said that you don't even remember yourself. The joy of like their success or making a living in a very competitive field. Strangely, now in my, in my old age, find that incredible, like profoundly gratifying. And so I know exactly what you're talking about, that you can influence a young person who put a lot of stock in you and your professionalism and what you were capable of, such that they went on and took those lessons and wisdom with them and applied it in their own lives, is incredibly, incredibly gratifying. I thank you for saying that because it made me feel that warmth again that I feel when I hear from some of my former students, which is a very small group because I did it for a very brief amount of time.

But anyway, I did want to ask you one final thing because you made a reference earlier in our conversation to preparing opinions or drafting something for judges themselves who were looking for guidance. I was hoping you'd elaborate a little bit more on that kind of work. Obviously, if you're going to be a judge, the fact that you did work advising judges— what exactly was this?

As an assistant general counsel for the 11th Judicial Circuit. Oh, wow. There is a quadrant of attorneys that are behind every judge, and many people don't realize that. But judges sometimes, you know, nobody knows everything.. And so if a judge has a question on the law, there's a group of attorneys who— that's their job, to do the research, write memorandums of law, giving the judge information that allows them to make their decisions that they need to make. I did that for about 3, 4 years, and none of those suggestions came back on appeal.

Well, one thing I will have to disagree with you on is you said nobody knows everything. And I know one guy who got— that is Miami Caveman Commissioner Miguel Gabela. Is he here? Roy, look up in the sky! Is he here? Is he swinging through? Yeah, we like to watch out for that tree. Bonita Jones Peabody, good luck to you. You can find her at electbonita.com. Best of luck in the election. Thank you so much, Billy.

I appreciate it.

Thank you. Cocaine's.