Lev Parnas launches bid for Florida's 27th Congressional District

Sofia Saric, Miami Herald on Mar 5, 2026

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MIAMI — Lev Parnas, a key figure in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, announced Wednesday that he is campaigning for the Miami congressional seat held by Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar.

During a livestream, Parnas, 54, said he was running for office because he knows Trump’s system from the inside. He helped build MAGA, he said, and intends to do everything in his power to “dismantle the corruption surrounding it piece by piece.”

Parnas will run as a Democrat, campaign spokesperson Sabina Covo told the Miami Herald.

The Soviet-born businessman gained notoriety in 2019 after helping introduce Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, into Ukrainian political circles to pressure the country to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. His work to dredge up dirt on the Bidens became a pillar of the first impeachment case against Trump, who was acquitted in the Senate.

Parnas, a Florida resident who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to GOP campaigns and raised money for Gov. Ron DeSantis, was arrested in 2019 and accused of funneling Russian money into U.S. elections to help buy his way into the legal marijuana business. He was also accused of defrauding investors in his business, Fraud Guarantee, ostensibly created to help protect people from fraud.

Parnas was sentenced to 20 months in prison in 2022 and ordered to pay more than $2 million restitution.

Parnas now says he believed he was serving his country while actually being indoctrinated into a political cult. He says he “got suckered.”

“I was pulled into one of the biggest political scandals of modern American history but something important happened in that moment,” Parnas said Wednesday. “I woke up.”

Parnas has been on something of a redemption tour in recent years.

In 2024, Miami filmmaker Billy Corben released a documentary, “From Russia with Lev,” which detailed Parnas’ involvement with Trump and his attempt to distance himself in the aftermath. The movie, produced by MS Now host Rachel Maddow, ends with Parnas sitting down with Hunter Biden to apologize.

Parnas says he is running for office because democracy needs fighters.

“Remember from the very beginning, I told you this platform would stand for one thing above all else, and that’s speaking truth to power, standing up for voices that were ignored, for survivors, for the whistleblowers, for each and every person out there, people of Ukraine fighting for their freedom, the kids, the elderly, for the people of Venezuela suffering under dictatorship,” he said. “But especially for each and every American — each and every one of you who felt like their government has stopped listening to them.”

Parnas enters a Democratic primary race that already features candidates Richard Lamondin and Robin Peguero. Retired news anchor Eliott Rodriguez has also flirted with a run.