Joe Garcia

Joe Garcia

Jose Antonio "Joe" Garcia Jr. (born October 19, 1963 in Miami Beach , Florida ) is an American politician . Between 2013 and 2015 he represented the state of Florida in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Joe Garcia is the son of a couple who fled Cuba . He attended the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School until 1982 and then the Miami Dade Community College . He then studied political science at the University of Miami until 1987 . After completing a law degree at the same university, he was admitted to the bar in 1991. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . Between 1991 and 2000 he headed the Florida Public Service Commission . He has also served on various other commissions and is a board member of the Cuban American National Foundation , of which he has since been president. He was also the Democratic Party Chairman in Miami-Dade County . In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed him director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact , part of the Department of Energy .

In 2008 and 2010 Garcia applied unsuccessfully for a seat in the US House of Representatives, losing to Republican David Rivera in his second candidacy . In the 2012 congressional elections he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC with 54 percent of the vote against Rivera in the newly created 26th  constituency of Florida , where he took up his new mandate on January 3, 2013. In the 2014 congressional elections, Garcia was defeated by Republican Carlos Curbelo .

Web links

• Joe Garcia in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Biography at the Wall Street Journal