From state representative to attorney to the pols to Elections Supervisor? That’s the track former State Rep. JC Planas, who has become the premier elections attorney in town, hopes to take.
Planas, 52, presented paperwork Friday to run for Supervisor of Elections in 2024. A reformed Republican turned blue after Donald Trump won the White House in 2020, he also blames Trump’s attempt in 2020 to pervert the system for his interest in the position.
“The election denialism in the aftermath of the 2020 election shook me to my core,” Planas wrote in his announcement on Facebook. “More than any time in my life, our democracy was clearly under attack.
“The post 2020 election period then saw many states, including our beloved Florida, enact new voting laws making it harder for some voters to easily register to vote and access a ballot,” Planas wrote. “As such, we need a leader at our elections department that can not only work within these laws to make it easier for our citizens to vote, but one who can also be an advocate against restrictive laws that limit a citizens ability to vote.
“We need a leader who will fight for the preservation and strengthening of our democracy.”
Planas first ran for office more than 20 years ago and was elected to the Florida House in District 113 in 2002, beating Thomas William Glaser with 74% of the vote. Four years later, he defended the seat and got 83% in the Republican primary. Planas did not run for re-election in 2010 as his wife Vivian was pregnant with their first child. He came back to build his business, which boomed with candidates and ballot issues. He even partnered with political consultant David “Disgustin'” Custin for a while, but they parted ways and we’ve forgiven that. Everyone makes mistakes.
Planas never really thought he would run for office again, other than judge. Maybe. But when Elections Supervisor Christina White said last month that she was not going to seek the position — “I would have never run against Chirstina,” he said — Planas began to mull it over. Friends encouraged him, he says.
“This is the job that I feel I was born to do,” he told Ladra Friday. “There’s nothing else in my wheelhouse as strong as this.”
And let Ladra be the first to say that there could not be a better job for him. Ladra will have to vote for him because Planas and this job are made for each other. There are only two others vying to run so far: Democrat political consultant Willis Howard and Ruth Swanson, a Republican who still believes that Trump won in 2020 (alarms should be ringing).
But Ladra has mixed feelings. While on the one hand, Planas would keep the integrity of that office and, Ladra bets, make voting easier for folks, elevating voter rights issues to where they belong, it also takes him out of the field for things like the recall of Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo — which could start again any day now.
Attorneys David Winker and Joe Geller are going to feel the void.
Former state rep, election attorney JC Planas files for 2024 Elections chief added by Ladra on
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