Salazar, María Elvira, 1961-

María Elvira Salazar (born November 1, 1961) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she has served as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 27th congressional district since 2021.

Born in Miami, Florida, she graduated from the Deerborne School in Coral Gables, Florida before earning a B.A. from the University of Miami and an M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Starting at the age of 22, she worked for every major US Spanish-language broadcasting network: Telemundo, Univision, AmericaTeve, MegaTV, and CNN en Español, interviewing world leaders from Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to Chile’s Augusto Pinochet to most notably Cuban leader Fidel Castro. After Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced her retirement ahead of the 2018 election, Salazar won the Republican nomination to succeed her. Salazar narrowly lost the general election to former Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala.

In August 2019, Salazar anounced her candidacy to run against Shalala again; Salazar narrowly triumphed in the general election. In the 117th Congress, she serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as well as the House Committee on Small Business and is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership.