Jesse Scheckner
Republican state Rep. Alina Garcia made history Tuesday, becoming Miami-Dade’s first Supervisor of Elections to be chosen by county voters.
With early and mail-in votes tallied and all but two of 757 precincts reporting, Garcia had 56% of the vote to defeat Democratic ethics and elections lawyer J.C. Planas, a former state lawmaker.
She replaces Supervisor Christina White, who has served in the previously appointed role since 2015.
“I’m grateful to the voters of Miami-Dade County for their support and their trust in me. I will serve you with honor and integrity while protecting our right to safe and secure elections,” Garcia said in a statement to Florida Politics.
“We could not have done this without the support of my family, friends, colleagues and supporters. I look forward to serving as your first elected Supervisor of Elections.”
Planas posted his reaction to the result online.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who supported our campaign. While tonight’s results were not what we had hoped for, I am incredibly proud of the work we accomplished together and the message we shared with Miami-Dade,” he wrote. “To my wife and kids, my team, volunteers, and every voter who put their faith in me — your dedication and passion have been truly inspiring. Though we did not win this race, our fight for democracy is far from over. I will continue to stand up for the integrity of our elections and the rights of every voter.”
There were some similarities — and ample differences — between the two candidates.
Planas, 54, served four straight terms in the Florida House from 2002 to 2010 as a Republican. A decade after leaving office, he switched parties following the impeachment of Donald Trump, citing among other things the former President’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen as a reason.
Trump has endorsed Garcia, 67, who worked for decades on the campaigns and teams of some of Florida’s most well-known GOP politicians before successfully seeking state office in 2022.
Asked by the Miami Herald whether she believes Trump lost the 2020 election, Garcia equivocated, calling the elections in Florida and Miami-Dade “fair, transparent,” but declining to say the same about the processes elsewhere.
Born in Cuba and a Florida resident since 1961, her political clients have included U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Hialeah Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and former state Sen. Frank Artiles, who was found guilty last month of election interference through a so-called “ghost candidate” scheme.
She won her HD 115 seat two years ago with 58.5% of the vote. If elected Supervisor, she vowed to make the Department of Elections more modern, transparent and secure, and develop educational resources to “address the unique needs and challenges of various demographics, seniors, and individuals with disabilities.”
Planas promised to upgrade the county elections website, enhance voter registration efforts and use various technologies, including a system of QR codes, to track mail-in ballots and streamline elections.
He won a three-way Democratic Primary with 46% of the vote on Aug. 20 to advance to the General Election. Garcia originally faced two GOP foes, lawyer Megan Pearl and Ruth Swanson, a 2020 election denier, but both withdrew.
By October, Garcia raised more than five times what Planas did, stacking over $574,000 between her campaign account and political committee, Florida Always First, since she won the House race in 2022. She had about $203,000 left less than a month before Election Day.
Planas, meanwhile, raised just over $102,000 through his campaign account and spent more than $85,000 of that sum by Oct. 4. An unaffiliated political committee supporting his campaign called Friends of JC Planas added $500,000 in late September 2023 from a single donor, mortgage loan originator Eduardo Fernandez, but had spent just $18,000 between then and mid-October, all of it on digital ads and texts.
In July, Planas became the first person to be fined by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust for filing a frivolous complaint. Planas said he’s appealing the decision and warned such fines could create a chilling effect on ethics challenges.
Notably, he is the namesake for case law from 2006, Planas v. Planas, which generally established that anyone who runs for office under a nickname with the goal of tricking voters should be disqualified from running. The case, which arose when Planas sued his cousin for filing to run against him that year under the previously unused nickname “J.P. Planas,” informed the ruling of a similar case in early August.
Questions arose last month about Garcia’s suitability for the job after a video circulated online showing her crowding Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who is challenging Republican U.S. Senator Rick Scott, while chanting “socialista” (socialist).
At one point in the video, Garcia puts her arm around the Mucarsel-Powell’s shoulder, prompting a nearby police officer to tell her, “No touching.” Garcia told Florida Politics Mucarsel-Powell forced the encounter, and another video shows the Democrat approaching the group and at one point coming into physical contact with another GOP demonstrator.
Local voters in 1957 abolished several constitutional offices — including Supervisor of Elections, Tax Collector and Property Appraiser — through the adoption of the Home Rule Charter of Dade County (later renamed Miami-Dade). The charter designating their powers to the county’s top executive official, today Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who until now appointed people to those posts.
That changed this year due to a 2018 statewide referendum in which 58% of Miami-Dade voters joined a statewide supermajority in approving a constitutional amendment requiring every county in the state to elect those officers and a Sheriff by Jan. 7, 2025.
