The gathering took on an added political weight as U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson made a visit to the event while in town for the National Republican Congressional Committee\u2019s winter meeting, which was held at the nearby Ritz-Carlton. <\/p>\n
Also visiting the two dozen teams at the Rib-Off: former Rep. David Jolly, who is hoping to capture the Democratic nomination for governor. <\/p>\n
Rodriguez, who retired in December after 25 years at CBS, identified immigration and economic anxiety as the pillars of his potential platform. He described current immigration trends as \u201ca policy of cruelty\u201d.<\/p>\n
He spoke about his future \u2014 and being a Rib-Off judge \u2014 on the Anti-Social podcast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number one driving issue for me is the treatment of immigrants in this country, because we live in a very diverse community,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
A son of Cuban immigrants who arrived in the 1950s, Rodriguez emphasized his personal connection to the South Florida immigrant experience. \u201cI\u2019m what you would consider birthright citizenship,\u201d he said. \u201cI always said if I write a book, the title of the book would be from \u2018Anchor Baby to Anchor Man\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Johnson-1024x683.jpeg\")
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club during the 20th Rib-Off, Feb. 28, 2026 (Mike Davey via KBI)<\/p>\n
The 27th District, currently held by Republican Maria Elvira Salazar, has been viewed by national political analysts as a safe Republican seat. However, Rodriguez\u2019s name recognition could shift that narrative. If Rodriguez jumps into the race \u201c,it\u2019s going to change the whole aspect of the way it\u2019s looked at nationally,\u201d opined Tony Winton, a co-host of the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Salazar was also a TV anchor for Univision and Telemundo before running for Congress.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez also took aim at the rising cost of living in South Florida, arguing Salzar is too focused on international politics rather than local kitchen-table issues. He listed his primary concerns as \u201caffordability, the cost of housing, rental, health insurance, the cost of groceries when you go to the supermarket, the cost of gas\u201d.<\/p>\n
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The affordability crisis, he noted, has forced his own family to look elsewhere. \u201cMy daughters have had to move away from South Florida because they can\u2019t afford to live here,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez cited his deep roots in the district, which he has called home since the 1960s, as a primary qualification. \u201cI lived in Coconut Grove, Kendall, Key Biscayne, Coral Gables and now Brickell,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cSo this is a district that I know and love.\u201d<\/p>\n
While acknowledging the \u201cshark infested\u201d nature of a modern political campaign, Rodriguez said a sense of civic duty is driving his decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I don\u2019t do anything, I may find it hard to live with myself later on, so that\u2019s why I\u2019m doing it,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
A formal announcement is expected \u201cvery soon\u201d to allow for organization ahead of the primary and the November general election.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiami\u2019s home,\u201d Rodriguez added.<\/p>\n
Invest in Local News for Your Town. Your Gift is tax-deductible<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Revised-Anti-Social-SQ-1-150x150.png\")
<\/a>A public affairs podcast where where we have a bit of fun while talking about current events and the foibles of social media. Originating from the Island Paradise of Key Biscayne but our topics and guests can be from anywhere.Subscribe with the podcast platform of your choice<\/a>\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former CBS News Miami anchor Eliott Rodriguez says he\u2019s nearing a final decision on a Democratic run for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[836,51813,5142,67098,589,82683,3086,55152,1841,8878,123,125,124,9778,99,79015,82684],"class_list":{"0":"post-174412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-affordability","9":"tag-cbs","10":"tag-congress","11":"tag-eliott-rodriguez","12":"tag-featured","13":"tag-fl-27","14":"tag-free","15":"tag-house-of-representatives","16":"tag-immigration","17":"tag-maria-elvira-salazar","18":"tag-miami","19":"tag-miami-headlines","20":"tag-miami-news","21":"tag-mike-johnson","22":"tag-politics","23":"tag-rib-off","24":"tag-wfor-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}