Florida Democrats are demanding a special election for a seat in the state Senate after a Republican was accused of tampering with last year’s race that could have led the race to the Republican Party.
Democrats are calling for state senator Ileana Garcia (R) to resign and for officials to create a special election after former Republican senator Frank Artiles was arrested on Thursday for allegedly planting a ghost candidate to defeat Democratic President José Javier. Rodriguez in District 37 of the state Senate.
“Her victory is clearly tarnished and will launch a cloud forever in her service in the Senate, not to mention the entire Florida Senate. In the interests of justice and the sanctity of our Democratic electoral process, we ask Senator Garcia to step down immediately and that a fair special election be held as soon as possible, ”Florida Democratic Party President Manny Diaz said at a news conference. on Friday.
“This election in the District 37 Senate was rigged and was decided by 32 votes. So it is clear that the manipulation had an impact on the election result, ”added minority leader in the state Senate, Gary Farmer. “The best way to ensure that this does not happen again is to redo the election in SD 37 and ensure that we have a fair election and pass laws that protect the integrity of our elections.”
The statements came a day after Miami-Dade state prosecutor Katherine Fernandez Rundle filed the charges against Artiles, who resigned from the Florida state senate in 2017 after using racial libel in a conversation with black colleagues.
Artiles reportedly paid Alex Rodriguez $ 44,000 to run for the election, which also included acting state senator and Garcia. Investigators argue that Artiles put Alex Rodriguez into contention in the hope that voters would be confused by his surname identical to that of José Javier Rodriguez and he would divert votes from the Democratic candidate.
The controversy comes as both parties still struggle with the ramifications of the 2020 presidential election, which President Trump
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