Garcia defeats David Rivera
By Patricia Mazzei and Amy Sherman
From The Miami Herald
U.S. Rep. David Rivera — whose tenure was marked by a series of scandals and who remains the target of two federal investigations — was booted out of office by voters, the only incumbent Congress member in the state to lose Tuesday.
Rivera, a Republican, lost to Democrat Joe Garcia, who handily picked up the Kendall-to-Key West seat for his party on a night when the GOP kept control of the U.S. House of Representatives. It was Rivera’s first-ever loss at the polls in a political career going back a decade.
“Thank you, South Florida!” a buoyant Garcia, 49, told more than a hundred supporters who were packed into Casa Vieja, a Colombian restaurant in West Kendall. “Today, our community has spoken. It has decided to turn a new page, move in a new direction.”
Garcia called for compromise between Democrats and Republicans. In his only reference to his opponent, Garcia said Rivera “ran a hard campaign. We wish him and his family well.”
Two candidates without party affiliation, Angel Fernandez and Jose Peixoto, also competed.
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But the only congressional incumbent to lose in Florida on Tuesday was Rivera, a former state representative and powerful Florida House budget chief who became the first sitting Miami-Dade member of Congress to lose in recent memory.
Rivera tacitly conceded defeat Tuesday night.
“The results are still incomplete, but they do not appear to be positive,” he said. “I want to thank my friends and family and God for all the blessings I have received from this community. It has been a great honor to serve this community for 10 years.”
“In or out, I will keep fighting — that will never change,” he added. “We must make sure that this district returns to a Republican congressman in 2014.”
