Staff at the store confirmed that Proclivity had a mailbox, but declined to provide any additional information, citing client confidentiality.
Though Proclivity's money paid for advertising ostensibly targeting Democratic voters, it flowed through a pair of PACs, one of which has connections to a young Republican political strategist named Alex Alvarado.They were circulated in at least three state Senate races in which a non-party affiliated candidate was running in addition to a Democrat and Republican.
In the South Florida race featuring the Latinas for Trump candidate, the purported spoiler candidate had the same last name -- Rodriguez -- as Democratic incumbent Jose Javier Rodriguez.Though he has no known history in politics and did not actively campaign, Alex Rodriguez garnered more than 6,000 votes.Jose Javier Rodriguez, the incumbent state senator who lost by 32 votes, has called for a probe into Alex Rodriguez's candidacy and who is behind it."Democracy requires transparency," he said in a video shared with the media, "and in order to achieve that I believe this election warrants a full investigation." Ileana Garcia, the newly elected Republican state senator, side stepped questions from CNN about her involvement -- if any -- in the other Rodriguez's campaign.A spokesperson for the office declined to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation to CNN.
Ben Wilcox, research director of the nonpartisan watchdog group Integrity Florida, said he has no doubt that someone running a dark money campaign impacted at least one state senate seat."Florida is so loosely regulated when it comes to financing of campaigns that it's probably legal, but it really shouldn't be," Wilcox said.