Former Jan. 6 committee lawyer launches Democratic bid for Congress in a Florida district Trump won

A former lawyer for the House committee that investigated the Jan.

A former lawyer for the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot announced Tuesday that he is running for Congress in Florida as a Democrat, challenging Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar.

Robin Peguero, 39, said in an interview ahead of his announcement that he is running because Salazar has not “stood up” to President Donald Trump on issues like his deportation program and sweeping tax and spending cuts law.

Robin Peguero.Courtesy Robin Peguero“It’s been six months into this administration, and Congresswoman Salazar has not stood up to the president in any meaningful way,” Peguero said.

Peguero was a homicide prosecutor in Miami from 2014 until September 2021, when he took a job on the Jan. 6 committee as an investigative counsel. He continued in that position until the committee dissolved in 2021, after which he became chief of staff for Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., until January 2024. He has taught law in Miami since.

Salazar has represented Florida’s 27th Congressional District, which encompasses most of Miami and its southern suburbs, since 2021. The predominantly Hispanic district has shifted toward Republicans in recent years, as Trump won the district by 15 percentage points in 2024 after he carried it by less than half a percentage point in 2020.