Jason Delgado
Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia is offline.
The Miami lawmaker has mostly vanished off social media. No Facebook presence. No Twitter account. Only the Instagram remains.
“This account doesn’t exist,” reads an advisory on Garcia’s former Twitter profile.
It is unclear exactly when or why Garcia seemingly scuttled the accounts. Florida Politics inquired with staff and the lawmaker early Thursday. The requests, however, went unanswered.
A Senate newcomer, Garcia has found herself in the middle of several Tallahassee dustups in recent weeks.
In mid-January, she offended a handful of Black senators after she encouraged people to “move on” from racism in an interview that aired on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
She further cited former President Barack Obama’s election and re-election as evidence that the Black experience in America is “not at all” different from that of White people or other races.
“That’s why we had Obama as President,” Garcia told CBS 4 Miami. “That’s the best example in the world. Obama was President not for four years, for eight.”
Before the interview, Garcia reportedly initiated a verbal altercation with a senior Democratic Senator. The altercation was witnessed by several lawmakers and reported by POLITICO.
Garcia’s election was controversial in itself. Democratic lawmakers called for Garcia’s resignation in March after an investigation revealed a scheme intended to siphon votes from her adversary.
The scheme involved a sham candidate with a similar name to the Democratic incumbent. Garcia is not accused of any wrongdoing.
“Reminder that this is a Senator who won her election via the fake candidate scheme that took place in 2 state Senate races,” Rep. Anna Eskamani tweeted Thursday after noting the accounts were offline.
Garcia represents Senate District 37, which consists of parts of Miami-Dade County. The Miami native is proposing a slew of bills and serves as chair of the Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee.
