Few have followed Venezuela more closely — or praised President Donald Trump’s actions in the country more heartily — than Florida Republicans.
Now, in advance of a key meeting on Thursday, Florida Republicans in Congress are drawing a clearer line than the White House about what they think should come next in Venezuela — namely, that opposition leader María Corina Machado should run Venezuela’s transition.
With the largest Venezuelan population in the United States, Florida has treated the ouster of Nicolás Maduro as a top political cause for years. But as Trump celebrates the operation that removed him, Florida’s GOP lawmakers hope the administration will go a step further by explicitly backing Machado as the country’s rightful democratic successor.
The tension comes to a head Thursday, when Trump is set to meet with Machado after publicly questioning her standing inside Venezuela.
In the hours after the U.S.-backed operation to remove Maduro, Trump told reporters that Machado “doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country” — a position that Florida Republicans have been clear they don’t agree with.
When a reporter asked Florida Republicans why they weren’t willing to support Machado, Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Fla., almost immediately interrupted.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. When have we not supported her?” Díaz-Balart said, cutting off a reporter’s question during a press conference alongside other Florida Republicans earlier in the month. “We have been consistent from Day 1. And I am convinced there’s going to be a transition, and I’m convinced that when there are elections — whether new or there’s a decision to take the old elections — that the next democratically elected president is going to be María Corina Machado.”
The moment might have foreshadowed a schism among key Republicans dismayed with Trump’s equivocating on Machado, but back on the Hill this week, Díaz-Balart heaped praise on the administration’s actions so far.
“I’m totally supportive of what they’re doing,” Díaz-Balart told MS NOW. “Obviously, I want to make sure that that transition is as short as possible towards, you know, the return of democracy in Venezuela, but there’s — it’s a process.”
To these lawmakers, however, the “process” ends with Machado leading Venezuela.
“Once he meets with her, he will get to know her, and she’s the legitimate figure and representative of the opposition in Venezuela,” Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., told MS NOW on Tuesday, calling Machado “the real deal.”
Sen. Rick Scott, a two-term Florida governor before coming to the Senate, offered similar support for Machado.
“I think what they’re trying to do is make sure there’s a transition that doesn’t end up in bloodshed,” Scott told MS NOW last week. “I think we’re going to get to a free and fair election. But in the meantime, [acting President] Delcy Rodriguez is either going to cooperate, or she’s going to end up in prison or something else.”
When it came to Machado, whom Scott mentioned he’d spoken to that week, he was direct: “She would have won if she had been on the ballot. She clearly has to support the Venezuelan people. I think she’ll eventually be the president.”
Scott took the step of introducing a resolution on Wednesday that calls out the “path to liberty and prosperity” for the people of Venezuela that was first laid out by “the brave Venezuelan opposition led by Edmundo Gonzalez, the duly elected President of Venezuela, and María Corina Machado.”
It’s a clarity once shared by another Florida Republican: Marco Rubio, who’s now the secretary of state.
A longtime anti-Maduro crusader whose views on Venezuela now seem to be leading the Trump administration’s policy in the region, Rubio has spoken emphatically about the need to remove Maduro and institute democratic systems. “The goal here,” the then-Florida senator said in a 2019 speech, “is not just to get rid of Maduro. This is not about just Nicolás Maduro, because if you want another dictator, there are, like, seven or eight other people that would more than happy to be the next dictator. This is about transitioning to democracy.” And just a year ago, alongside his fellow Floridians — many of whom are now in, or allies of, the current Trump administration — he signed on to an August 2024 letter supporting Machado for a 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, which she ultimately won. “It is our firm belief,” the lawmakers wrote then, “that María Corina Machado’s courageous and selfless leadership, and unyielding dedication to the pursuit of peace and democratic ideals, make her a most deserving candidate for this prestigious award. Her efforts not only highlight the urgent need for international solidarity in the face of aggressive and expansive authoritarianism but also serve as a reminder of the power of individual bravery in the quest for justice.” But one day after the U.S. carried Maduro out of Caracas, Rubio hedged on Machado’s future. “María Corina Machado is fantastic, and she’s someone I’ve known for a very long time,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” speaking to the long relationships he and others in the delegation still have with the opposition leader. “But,” Rubio said, “we are dealing with the immediate reality.” He continued that the reality is “the vast majority of the opposition is no longer present inside of Venezuela.” “We have short-term things that have to be addressed right away,” he added. Now, weeks in, Florida Republicans are hoping the president will come to share their conclusion.
Ali Vitali is MS NOW's senior congressional correspondent and the host of "Way Too Early." She is the author of "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet." Recommended
