ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – A former Florida state Republican senator was charged Thursday with three criminal counts involving a sham candidate intended to siphon votes away from a Democratic incumbent.
An arrest warrant says Frank Artiles, the former senator from the Miami area, gave more than $44,000 to the fake candidate in the 2020 election.
That candidate, Alex Rodriguez, has the same last name as the then-Democratic incumbent, Jose Javier Rodriguez. [TRENDING: DeSantis: Contact tracing doesn’t work | How to track your stimulus payment | Fla.
closer to ban for transgender female athletes] He ran as an independent in a three-way race state Senate race, which was won by Republican Ileana Garcia by just 32 votes.