Ileana Garcia

Ileana Ydolia Garcia is a Republican politician from Florida, who serves as a member of the Florida Senate.

Early life
The daughter of Cuban exiles, Garcia grew up in Florida. Her career was in media, working in both television and radio.

Political career
She served as the first Hispanic female Deputy Press Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump. Garcia founded the group Latinas for Trump and in 2016 was the Trump campaign's communications Director for Latino outreach.

In March 2022 during debate for the Parental Rights in Education bill in the Florida Senate, Ileana Garcia claimed that "gay is not a permanent thing, LGBT is not a permanent thing."

In January 2024, Garcia proposed a bill that would require Florida taxpayers to provide up to $5 million to Donald Trump in response to the former president's legal fees. Garcia later stated that she would withdraw the bill after Florida governor Ron DeSantis expressed opposition and threatened to veto the bill.

2020 Florida Senate election fraud investigation
In June 2020, Garcia filed to run against incumbent Democrat José Javier Rodríguez in Florida's 37th State Senate District. On the first count, Garcia beat Rodríguez by a narrow margin of 31 votes; the lead increased to 34 after a recount.

Garcia's election then came under immediate scrutiny by local news outlets for the candidacy of independent candidate Alex Rodríguez, who shares the same last name as José Javier Rodríguez and is an acquaintance of former Republican State Senator Frank Artiles. Alex Rodríguez did not campaign but received 6,382 votes from voters who may have been confused about who they were voting for. It was widely acknowledged that his candidacy was decisive in the outcome of the election.

On March 17, 2021, Artiles was accused of having paid $44,708.03 to Alex Rodríguez before and after the election in order for him to run as a false candidate in order to siphon off votes from candidate José Javier Rodríguez. His house at Palmetto Bay was searched, and he surrendered the next day to the Miami-Dade County Jail.