The Democratic candidate in Florida's District 27 congressional race is calling on Miami-Dade County's elections chief to remove herself from an automatic recount, arguing that her public comments and an alleged family connection put the fairness of the process in doubt.
The campaign of Eliott Rodriguez, a former local news anchor, issued a statement on Thursday raising concerns about Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia. According to the campaign, remarks Garcia made on Tuesday night suggested she favored his opponent, Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar.
The statement pointed to comments Garcia gave the Miami Herald on election night, when she declared, "María Elvira [Salazar] is the winner, with or without a recount." The newspaper also reported that Garcia viewed a reversal of the result as possible but unlikely. "That qualification does not take back the declaration," the Rodriguez campaign argued, adding that "Ms. Garcia already announced her winner."
Lawyers for the Rodriguez campaign went further, accusing Garcia of a conflict of interest. They wrote that, "according to information provided to our campaign, the lawyer representing Maria [Elvira] Salazar in the recount is Robert Fernandez, Ms. Garcia's son-in-law." The campaign would not tell 7News where that information came from and declined to elaborate beyond the written statement.
Representatives for the supervisor of elections office did not confirm whether Garcia's son-in-law is working as Salazar's attorney, and they would not expand on how Garcia was quoted on election night. They did confirm, however, that Garcia will not recuse herself from the recount.
Salazar answered the statement with one of her own, accusing Rodriguez of "behaving like an election denier" and describing her lead in the vote count as "an insurmountable margin."
"My opponent should allow the Canvassing Board and election workers to do their jobs and stop trying to undermine public confidence because he does not like the current results," Salazar said. Her statement, posted to social media, did not address the claim that Garcia's son-in-law is connected to her recount effort.
The contest between Salazar and Rodriguez remained too close to call as of late Thursday night, with only a little over 1,000 votes separating the two candidates.
At a news conference on Wednesday where she announced the recount, Garcia sought to assure the public that the process is open to scrutiny. "I just want voters to understand that everything here is transparent, above board, and everyone is welcome if they want to come and watch," she said. "This falls within Florida's 0.50% threshold for an automatic machine recount."
Fernandez did not respond to 7News' request for comment.
