Maria Elvira Salazar, who missed election challenge vote, will be sworn in to Congress
Miami Republican Rep.-elect Maria Elvira Salazar said Monday she’s traveling to Washington to be sworn in as a member of Congress, as the House of Representatives moves forward with impeaching President Donald Trump for the second time after the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Salazar, who tested positive for COVID-19 after being hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat on Dec. 23, said she was “on my way to DC” in a text message with the Miami Herald. Her spokesperson said Salazar is “in the process of preparing to travel to D.C.”
Exactly when she’ll be sworn in as a member of Congress was still unclear Monday. “We are in the process of working with House leadership to confirm a day & time for her swearing-in,” Salazar spokesperson Rey Anthony said in an email.
Though she was elected to the U.S. House for Miami’s 27th District in November — beating incumbent Democratic Rep. Donna Shalala — she missed the swearing-in for new members on Jan. 3. Her absence since then means she also missed the vote in Congress Wednesday, after Trump-supporting rioters attacked the Capitol, on whether to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Salazar issued a tweet condemning the violence on Wednesday, which caused five deaths, but did not say what her position was on Republican efforts to overturn the presidential election results.
“While I am in Miami recovering from COVID-19, I’m deeply troubled by what is happening in Washington,” Salazar tweeted. “I am praying for the safety of my colleagues & our law enforcement. There is absolutely no place for violence and rioting in the U.S. Capitol!”
Her COVID diagnosis wasn’t known until she released a statement Dec. 31 saying she had been “admitted overnight” to the hospital and had been treated over the course of 24 hours.
“I am in quarantine at home and getting better each day,” Salazar, 59, said in a statement at the time. “I look forward to hitting the ground running for my community, once it is medically permissible.”
Her press release did not elaborate on her condition or explain why she waited a week to announce her diagnosis.
She hasn’t said how she would have voted on challenges to Arizona and Pennsylvania’s electoral votes. Miami Republican Reps. Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart voted to challenge Arizona and Pennsylvania’s Electoral College results.
Salazar’s name wasn’t part of the roll call votes to overturn election results last week, meaning she wasn’t officially a member of Congress. Members of Congress can be sworn in remotely, as Florida Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings was last week. Hastings, who is fighting pancreatic cancer, was counted as “not voting” last week.
The day before the riot, Salazar gave an interview to YouTube host Alexander Otaola, a Miami-based Cuban-American influencer, telling him, “Tomorrow is a very important day because tomorrow is when the evidence will be revealed.”
“We will listen to the evidence,” Salazar said. “I’ve been studying this topic because I think what’s happening is outrageous.”
Salazar ended the interview, saying, “I would love to keep talking all day but my chest is hurting.”
Otaola later downplayed the deadly riot and said inaccurately that no police were hurt, part of a continued effort by some figures in Miami’s Spanish-language media to promote Trump and his false statements regarding the 2020 election.
This will be a critically important week in Congress, as Democrats fast-track impeachment proceedings during Trump’s final days in office. Salazar, who was endorsed by Trump, hasn’t said if she supports impeachment.
Two Republican senators, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have called on Trump to resign while others have said they would consider impeachment. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives is expected to vote on impeaching Trump this week, though the U.S. Senate might hold off on holding a trial until after the first months of Biden’s presidency so it can confirm his Cabinet and vote on legislation.
Miami Herald reporter Bianca Padró Ocasio contributed to this report.
