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After 3-Day Recount, Incumbent Democrat Loses Senate Seat To Ileana Garcia By 34 votes

Chair of the Miami-Dade Democrats and layer Steve Simeonidis looks a ballot with a magnifier during manual recount for Senate District 37 between Republican Ileana Garcia and Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez at Miami-Dade Elections Department on Thursday, November 12, 2020, in Miami, Florida.
David Santiago
/
Miami Herald
Chair of the Miami-Dade Democrats and layer Steve Simeonidis looks a ballot with a magnifier during manual recount for Senate District 37 between Republican Ileana Garcia and Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez at Miami-Dade Elections Department on Thursday, November 12, 2020, in Miami, Florida.

After three long days of a painstaking recount, early results on Thursday showed Latinas for Trump co-founder Ileana Garcia leading Democratic incumbent José Javier Rodríguez in the race for Senate District 37 by a mere 34 votes.

Ina video posted shortly after the recount was done, Rodríguez conceded and called for an investigation into the race, raising concerns about the influence of a third-party candidate backed by dark money who received more than 6,300 votes in an election decided by a few dozen out of more than 215,000.

“Democracy requires transparency,” he said in the video. “In order to achieve that, I believe this election requires a full investigation so that those who may have violated the law are held to account and so that such tactics are not used in future elections.”

Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.

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