But officials should review shady third plantidate, too
The razor thin margin between Democrat Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez and his Republican challenger, Latinas for Trump Founder Ileana Garcia, grew to 31 votes between early Wednesday morning, when it was 21, and Friday, when state officials scheduled a recount that will begin Sunday.
The gap hit a low point of 18 on Wednesday night, before going to 20 on Thursday and then to 31 by Friday afternoon, as voters with problematic ballots provided cure affidavits and provisional ballots were counted. It’s a mirror of what’s happening on the national arena in Georgia and Pennsylvania. But because it is within the .25% margin, Secretary of State Laurel Lee called for a manual recount which apparently starts with a machine recount that must be completed by 5 p.m. Thursday, said Deputy Elections Supervisor Suzy Trutie.
So, we may not know who won that race until at least a week after we know who the president of the United States is.
It didn’t have to be this way.
Rodriguez is, or was, one of the Florida Democrats’ shining stars, a onetime hopeful for congress who in 2016 beat former Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a veteran pol, after only two terms in the Florida House. For the one local legislator who has focused on the state’s broken unemployment system to lose to Fulanita Garcia, who does not have Diaz de la Portilla’s experience or name recognition, is one of the biggest shockers of Tuesday’s election results.
Read related: Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez releases 1st TV ad in race vs Trump Latina Ileana Garcia
Especially after spending around $2 million between his campaign account and his political action committee, Initiative for Florida’s Future, according to the latest campaign finance reports filed with the state.
Meanwhile Garcia is a GOP puppet. The former TV commentator and Trump Latina Barbie — the former deputy press secretary at the Department of Homeland Security when they were putting kids in cages (read: propagandist) — raised $462,679 between her account and her PAC, No More Socialism. Cute, huh?
But at least $228,163 was in-kind donations, mostly from the Florida Republican Party and its Senatorial Committee. Let’s also subtract $152,000 from Tallahassee-linked political action committees (more Republican money) and we have $82,516 left. Subtract at least $9,000 from lobbyists and government attorneys (more Republican establishment money) and you have $73,516 left. Subtract at least $5,500 from Sunshine Gasoline Max Alvarez — who was the exclusive distributor for Venezuelan oil in the U.S. and lobbied to lift sanctions against the Chavez/Maduro regime — and you have $68,016. She raised $60,016 from real people. Maybe.
Sure, she did use that 2020 playbook tactic that seemed to work for everybody — accusing J-Rod of wanting to defund the police and embracing socialist ideals. Just crazy how well that worked.
But there was another Miami playbook staple that may have been used: The plantidate. Alex Rodriguez, an NPA who got 6,377 votes and may have taken some votes from J-Rod because of the name confusion, has plantidate written all over him. He voted as a Republican two years ago, according to the Miami Herald, “loaned himself” $2,000 to qualify for this race in June and did not raise a dime or campaign at all. Mailers sent to voters on his behalf from some mystery source could very easily have also been funded by the Republican Party.
Ladra hopes that as votes in Senate District 37 are recounted, someone opens an investigation into the straw man’s campaign with the same zeal with which they went after former Congressman David Rivera for the same stunt.
Florida Senate 37 gap grows to 31 votes, Jose Javier Rodriguez heads to recount added by Ladra on
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