María Elvira Salazar calls Democratic candidates who seek to defeat her 'leftists'

The Democrats are now in a political battle against Republican Maria Elvira Salazar, who is currently the representative for the 27th District.

Miami Commissioner Ken Russell and Miami Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins are seeking the Democratic nomination to take on Salazar, according to Telemundo 51.

Higgins told the local South Florida television station that he decided to run for federal congress because "the people of the 27th district have a congresswoman who… voted against thousands of dollars in affordable housing, against the infrastructure bill that we need."

Meanwhile, Russell said he decided to run because "Maria Elvira Salazar is absent from the affordable housing meetings."

Maria Elvira responded to her potential rivals by saying that they are "two leftist politicians running for this seat, [who] do not speak our language, do not understand our culture and defend the same socialist policies that many of us fled from in our home countries."

Higgins denied being a socialist and downplayed Salazar's words by saying that "the idea of anti-communism is not only a Cuban American value, it is an American value."

Russell claimed that he dislikes "communism, socialism. I am a businessman, my father was working in Cuba for ten years with Pilon, and Coca Cola and the regime came and kicked my father out of the island.”

After a first failed attempt, Salazar came to lead District 27 and will now face re-election against one of these two candidates in a district with a marked balance of voters from both parties. Therefore, the battle between the candidates will depend on the independent votes. Whoever succeeds will be the one to tip the scales in their favor.