Democrat Eliott Rodriguez is asking Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia to step aside from the automatic recount in Florida’s District 27 congressional race, where he trails Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar by only a little over 1,000 votes.
In a statement released Thursday, the Rodriguez campaign said Garcia told the Miami Herald on election night that Salazar “is the winner, with or without a recount.” The campaign said the newspaper also reported that Garcia considered a reversal possible but unlikely, and it argued that this qualification does not retract the earlier declaration.
Rodriguez’s lawyers also claimed a conflict of interest, saying they had information that Salazar’s recount lawyer, Robert Fernandez, is Garcia’s son-in-law. The campaign did not say where that information came from and would not elaborate beyond its written statement.
Representatives for the supervisor’s office did not confirm the family relationship or explain Garcia’s election-night comments. They did confirm that Garcia will not recuse herself. Garcia announced the recount at a news conference Wednesday, saying the process is transparent and that the race falls within Florida’s 0.50% threshold for an automatic machine recount.
Salazar responded on social media, accusing Rodriguez of “behaving like an election denier” and calling her lead “an insurmountable margin.” Her statement did not address the claim about Garcia’s son-in-law. Neither Salazar’s campaign nor Fernandez’s responded to a request for comment.
As of late Thursday night, the race remained too close to call.
