A cafecito with Hakeem Jeffries at CAO Bakery sets off a clash between Eliott Rodriguez and María Elvira Salazar

October 20, 2026

A campaign stop over pastelitos and cafecito turned into a controversy in Miami. Cuban American journalist Eliott Rodriguez, the Democratic nominee for Florida's 27th Congressional District, visited CAO Bakery & Cafe in Pinecrest with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who was in South Florida campaigning for him. Rodriguez posted a video of the visit, and, according to NBC 6 and Axios, some social media users accused the bakery of hosting politicians they associate with socialism.

CAO owner Yvette Rodriguez Cao told NBC 6 that hosting the event was not an endorsement of any candidate. In a statement, the bakery said it is "a family-owned business, not a political organization" that serves "Republicans, Democrats, independents, and everyone in between," and that it does not support "a socialist agenda." Vicky Bakery, founded by the CAO owner's grandfather, clarified that the two are separate businesses and that the event did not take place at its stores.

Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar, Rodriguez's opponent in the November 3 election, criticized the visit: "Eliott Rodriguez brought the man who wants to lead the socialists in Congress into a Cuban bakery in Miami and, in one move, showed just how little he knows this community," she said. She later posted a photo of herself at Vicky Bakery. Axios noted that Jeffries has publicly rejected the Democratic Socialists of America agenda.

Rodriguez, for his part, accused his opponent of trying to hurt a small business whose only move was to invite "two non-socialists to have pastelitos and cafecito," and answered with a video about Salazar's past as a television journalist. The son of Cuban immigrants, Rodriguez anchored at CBS4 in Miami for 25 years before entering politics this year.