(Video) Luis Garcia - Florida House Candidate for District 91
- Indivisible Boca Raton
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
The Retired Firefighter, Activist, and Marine Veteran Running to Flip District 91 on a $786 Budget
Indivisible Boca Raton reached out to candidates running for Florida state legislative seats who support democratic values and the protection of our democracy to give voters a direct opportunity to hear their platforms. Candidate forums should not be interpreted as endorsements.
Meet Luis Garcia
Luis Garcia is not a politician. He'll tell you that himself. He bought a $30 suit at Goodwill for the campaign because he didn't own one. His public financial disclosure will show roughly $10,000 in assets and about $60,000 in debt. He recently lost his job and was days away from losing his health insurance when he spoke to Indivisible Boca Raton. His campaign had raised $786. He's running anyway. "I am you," he told the room. For most of the people in District 91, that's not a stretch.
Who Is Luis Garcia?
Garcia is 59, a Marine veteran, and a retired firefighter and paramedic who served 28 years with the City of Boca Raton Fire Department. He has spent his entire life in South Florida, roughly 20 years in Miami-Dade, 15 in Broward, and 25 in Palm Beach County. He also has 14 years of experience as a licensed claims adjuster, which gives him a working knowledge of the insurance crisis that most candidates in this race are discussing from the outside.
For the last decade, his activism has been street-level. He's stood at early voting sites in a Firefighters for Biden-Harris t-shirt, American flag in hand, putting himself physically between Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and Democratic voters trying to cast their ballots. Two months before the forum, he and two other activists, a retired Navy nurse and a retired police officer, showed up to film an ICE operation in Davie that had 30 vehicles, a Black Hawk helicopter, and a drone. He distributes Narcan at community events and demonstrated the dosage from memory at the forum.
He looked seriously at running for office about three and a half years ago, nearly challenged the incumbent then, and has been building toward this race since. He knows the district. He knows the issues. He also knows he needs help.
What He's Running On
Garcia's forum presentation doesn't follow a tight three-point structure. It's a candid conversation from someone who has thought seriously about these problems and has the background to back it up.
On the 287(g) agreement, he pushed back on the idea that it can simply be abolished at the state level. It's a federal statute, he noted, and has been on the books for 30 years. What the Florida legislature can do is reverse the state mandate, forced on local police departments by the attorney general at DeSantis's direction, that compels local law enforcement to act as immigration enforcement agents. That reversal is what he says he'll fight for in Tallahassee.
On housing insurance, Garcia brings a unique experience to this race: professional expertise. As a licensed claims adjuster with 14 years in the industry, he knows Florida already has a state-subsidized wind insurance option through Citizens Property Insurance. His argument is that it needs real reform, particularly on property and casualty insurance fraud, which he says is rampant in Florida and a major driver of the costs residents are absorbing.
On condo assessments, it's personal. He and his girlfriend are paying close to $50,000 in assessments in District 91. He named it as a crisis and framed it plainly as a cost-of-living emergency for the working and middle-class residents who make up most of the district.
On Meals on Wheels, he noted that federal funding was cut in the recent budget reconciliation process and called on the state to step in and restore it.
On the Florida State Guard, Garcia had a specific proposal: repurpose the 1,500-member force, which DeSantis created and sent to the Texas border for what Garcia called Fox News photo opportunities, into a protective detail for houses of worship. Synagogues, churches, and mosques are currently paying for armed security out of their own budgets. The state already has a funded force that could be doing that work instead.
On the DeSantis election security unit, he proposed converting the Florida Division of Election Security's 33 sworn officers into an elder fraud task force, a direct match for a district where the senior population is concentrated and vulnerable.
When an audience member asked how he would pitch himself to working-class MAGA voters, Garcia didn't hedge. He said he'd ask them one question: are they happy with where things stand? His read is that a lot of them aren't, and that reaching across rather than writing them off is what serious representation looks like.
The Case He's Making
Peggy Gossett-Seidman, the Republican incumbent, lives in a home worth close to $5 million on Highland Beach. Garcia lives in the district, pays the same condo assessments, carries the same financial pressures, and has spent the last decade doing the kind of work most people only talk about.
His campaign is underfunded and he knows it. He needs volunteers, donations, and people willing to share his name in Boca West, East Boca, Highland Beach, and the Delray Beach communities that fall within District 91. He's on Facebook, which he freely admitted is because he's 59 and that's where he is.
What he has is a biography that's hard to manufacture and a genuine reason to be in this race. Is that enough? That's up to the voters.
Donate to support Luis' campaign:
Follow Luis on Social Media:
Website: https://voteforluisgarcia.com/
More from Indivisible Boca Raton’s Media team:
Links to all our social media:
Facebook: indivisiblebocaraton.org/facebook
Instagram: indivisiblebocaraton.org/instagram
Tik Tok: indivisiblebocaraton.org/tiktok
YouTube: indivisiblebocaraton.org/youtube
Bluesky: indivisiblebocaraton.org/bluesky
Threads: indivisiblebocaraton.org/threads
Upscrolled: indivisiblebocaraton.org/upscrolled
Volunteers:
Indivisible is a volunteer-lead organization, and we could use your help! If you want to volunteer occasionally to help us fight for democracy, please CLICK HEREÂ to fill out the volunteer form.
Donations:We also are in need of any donations you can make towards Indivisible Boca Raton. Money is needed to be able to rent the Civic Center, serve refreshments, pay for postcards, office supplies, name tags, signs and other necessities to operate. This is a grassroots organization and any amount you can give would be extremely appreciated.
Click here to donate. It will take you directly to our Act Blue Page. Thank you!