How do you beat the most cubanasa member of U.S. Congress in a somewhat Cuban-American district when it seems libertad en cuba is going to be an issue the GOP seizes on? You run a Democrat cubanita against her — a former Republican who used to work for the beloved Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who would still hold the seat if she wanted to.
Nobody can call Janelle Perez a communist.
The Cuban-American healthcare executive, cancer survivor and LGBT activist announced on Wednesday her bid for Congress in the 27th District, challenging first term U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar.
Does this mean that Donna Shalala is out? Not exactly. She is waiting to see how the district shapes up after redistricting and will likely not run if Miami Beach is carved out. As recently as May, the Donna Democrats political action committee was fundraising with a video that paints Salazar as a liar and hypocrite. But that PAC has supported other Dems and, if Donna doesn’t run, will likely support whoever the Dem is against Salazar in 2022.
Miami Commissioner Ken Russell toyed with the seat for a minute, as he is want to do, and instead decided to challenge U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (more on that later). So is Perez the Democrat Party’s best bet to win back this seat? Does she have their support? There have been complaints lately that the party can’t recruit big names in Florida.
Salazar, who used the fear tactics of “looming” socialism to beat Shalala last year, has been front and center of the stateside SosCuba movement, taking advantage of all the circus stops, including multiple Versailles visits and that ugly, opportunistic media event with Kevin McCarthy.
Perez can make that a moot point and it looks like the brunt of her campaign will be about affordable and accessible healthcare.
Perez, whose family owns Doctors HealthCare Plans, Inc., a managed care company in Miami-Dade that aims to provide affordable, high-quality medical services to Medicare beneficiaries, was diagnosed with stage four Follicular Lymphoma, a very aggressive incurable cancer, at the age of 28. The shocking news caused her to finally come out to her family, as she recounts in this recent editorial in the Miami Herald. She couldn’t face fighting for her life without the love of her life at her side the whole time. Her family’s love and acceptance helped her beat cancer and the battle drove her to work harder to advocate for quality and affordable healthcare.
It’s not just a campaign issue for her. It’s a personal issue. It’s a life and death issue.
“It’s clear that our elected leaders in Congress from this community have turned their back on us. As a cancer survivor, I know firsthand what it means to confront the impossible,” Perez said, flanked by family at Domino Park in Little Havana, in the center of the district.
“Having faced the toughest health fight myself reminds me that every resident in our community deserves the right to health care without the fear of facing bankruptcy,” Perez said.
“I was very lucky. I did have insurance,” Perez told Ladra. She was going to enter an MDA program in Spain when her mother suggested a check-up before she left. The doctor noticed a lump in her neck. And life changed.
As part of her announcement, Perez released a digital ad that tells her story, complete with photographs of her getting treatment and of her family, including her wife Monica and their 4-year-old daughter.
On her website, Perez — chair of the city of Miami’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board and a board member of the Miami-Dade County LGBTQ+ Advisory Board — says that Salazar’s vote against the Equality Act was a defining moment in her decision to run for Congress. “A proud member of South Florida’s vibrant LGBTQ community, Janelle knows that we need leaders who will champion equality for all Americans,” the website reads.
Salazar will have to defend her position on these issues because she won’t have the monopoly on the Cuban story.
“As a daughter of Cuban exiles, fighting for democracy is part of our core values,” Perez said in her statement. “My parents fled communist Cuba and found opportunity in Miami-Dade; through hard work and determination, my father grew a dream into a prosperous healthcare business. My family story isn’t unique though, it’s the story of so many in our community.
“We have leaders today who choose to deny families their American Dream and consistently vote against policies that protect families,” Perez said.
There’s news footage of Salazar waving her arms like crazy and shouting about something or other, which is what she’s good at as a former TV pundit. And clips from the protests by Cuban Americans last month.
“In 2020, Rep. Salazar ran a campaign based on fear tactics and scaring the people of Miami,” Perez said. “That won’t work with me.
Perez — who worked as for Ros-Lehtinen and then the Committee on Foreign Affairs — is solidly pro-embargo. She calls herself a “Miami Democrat.” That means progressive on everything except foreign affairs.
“The embargo is not the reason that the Cuban people are starving. The embargo is not the reason that Cuban farmers cannot farm, that people cannot fish,” Perez told Ladra. “The people in Cuba aren’t asking for the embargo to be lifted. They are asking for freedom.”
She said she first registered as a Republican because — like many second generation Cubans — she grew up in a conservative, GOP family. She went to Our Lady of Lourdes Academy! There are few Democrats at Lourdes.
“At 18, it only felt natural for me to register as Republican,” Perez told Ladra.
But once she started working in D.C. — in the belly of the beast, so to speak — “I began to realize I am not so in line with their issues when it comes to equality, healthcare, helping Americans attain the American Dream.”
She still registered as a Republican when she returned to Miami-Dade in 2015. But she changed that to no party affiliation in 2018 and then went to full blue Democrat in July 2019.
Perez has family money and can self fund her campaign. She said she is will put money into it if she needs to. And she will need to. Orlando Gonzalez at SAVE connected her with Democrat political consultant Christian Ulvert. But Perez believes she can raise the funds necessary to beat Salazar and Ulvert said she raised $150,000 from more than 250 donors in the first 24 hours after announcing.
“I’m super pumped. We have hit the ground running,” Perez told Ladra. “This is a dream that I have had since I saw Bob Dole and Bill Clinton debate when I was in fourth grade.”
Because her wife was pregnant when Ros-Lehtinen retired, it wasn’t the right time for her. But now the time has come, she said.
“The political climate in this country is scary,” Perez said. “The politization of healthcare and science is sad.
“Our community has been tested like never before, and we’ve seen how when we come together, as family, as one community, there is nothing we cannot overcome. I am running for Congress because it’s time we had leaders who cared more about taking on the challenges families face than fighting each other.”
Cubanita cancer survivor, LGBT activist challenges Maria Elvira Salazar in 2022 added by Ladra on
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