Republican Ileana Garcia has been declared the winner of Florida State Senate District 37 after a manual recount Thursday, nine days after Election Day.
Garcia won by 34 votes over Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez. He has held the seat, which stretches from Miami to Key Biscayne to Cutler Bay, since 2016.
Miami-Dade County elections workers sorted through approximately 8,000 ballots Thursday morning.
Since election night, Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez had been trailing Republican Ileana Garcia by less than 40 votes.
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On election night, Garcia was up by only 21 votes, though that number has changed over the last few weeks as ballots were reviewed. Florida law mandates a recount when the margin is so slim.
A machine recount took place on Tuesday, and on Thursday, poll workers worked to review the ballots that the machines rejected. Most are 'undervotes,' cases in which the voter did not select a candidate for the District 37 race.
