A political operative once investigated for his role in Florida's infamous 2020 ghost-candidate scheme is now chairing a political action committee sending text messages attacking Democratic attorney general candidate Jose Javier Rodríguez. The committee, Lower Our Costs Now, suggests Rodríguez would not defend reproductive freedom — messaging that appears designed to help Republican incumbent Attorney General James Uthmeier hold onto his seat.
Alex Alvarado’s political action committee is behind the texts slamming Rodríguez, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Lower Our Costs Now was registered in late September and, as of the Sentinel's report, had not yet reported any contributions or expenditures, leaving the source of funding for the texts unclear. Alvarado chairs the committee, and the texts are worded to sound as if they came from a left-leaning group, even as they work to help Uthmeier remain in office.
A Familiar Name From Florida's Ghost-Candidate Scandal
Alvarado is not a new face in Florida political controversy. He was a key player in the 2020 ghost-candidate scheme, in which he ran two political committees that sent mailers urging voters to support three independent candidates in an effort to siphon votes from Democrats running for state Senate. Miami-Dade prosecutors identified Alvarado in 2022 as a target of their investigation into that scheme, though he was never charged with any crime, per the same Sentinel account.
The 2020 effort targeted Rodríguez directly. He was a south Florida state senator seeking reelection that year when an Alvarado-controlled political committee sent mailers to Miami-area voters promoting an independent candidate named Alex Rodriguez as a progressive alternative. That candidate received more than 6,000 votes, allowing Republican Ileana Garcia to defeat Jose Javier Rodríguez by just 32 votes. Alex Rodriguez was paid by former GOP state Sen. Frank Artiles to put his name on the ballot, the Orlando Sentinel reports; Artiles was later convicted of several charges, including making excessive campaign contributions.
A separate Alvarado committee sent mailers to central Florida voters urging votes for independent state Senate candidate Jestine Iannotti, who filed to run for a seat representing Seminole County and part of Volusia County but never campaigned and spent several weeks in Sweden shortly before the election, according to WINK News. Those mailers sought to split the vote of left-leaning residents, and Jason Brodeur won that race; he is now seeking reelection to the Florida Senate in 2026. The two committees Alvarado ran spent a combined $550,000 on ads championing the ghost candidates, as reported by the Sun Sentinel, while the two political committees The Truth and Our Florida funneled a total of $550,000 into flyers supporting Iannotti and two other alleged ghost candidates, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
The 2020 scheme eventually ended with criminal convictions for some participants. Ben Paris was charged for his role and convicted after a four-day trial in 2022, while Eric Foglesong was charged and accepted a plea agreement. Iannotti was also charged, accepted a plea agreement, and pleaded no contest to two first-degree misdemeanors in 2024, with adjudication withheld in her case. Her case records no longer appear on the Seminole County Clerk of Courts website, and records suggest she may have had her record expunged, the Sentinel's reporting notes.
New Texts Lean on an Abortion Vote From 2015
The current Lower Our Costs Now graphic refers to Florida House Bill 633, a 2015 measure that required a 24-hour waiting period before obtaining an abortion and passed the Republican-dominated Legislature. The graphic claims Rodríguez went missing when reproductive freedom was at stake, suggesting he did not vote on the bill. Rodríguez missed the floor vote on the bill but entered a no vote after the official roll call, per the Sentinel's account.
Rodríguez supports abortion rights and was endorsed by Planned Parenthood Florida Action for his commitment to protecting reproductive rights, the outlet reports. His campaign spokeswoman said the messages were intended to trick voters, telling the Sentinel, “These misleading messages are an attempt to confuse voters and suppress turnout.” Alvarado defended the texts in an emailed statement to the Orlando Sentinel, saying, “If telling voters that he didn’t vote is ‘misleading,’ the problem is his record, not the text.”
A Donor Trail Back to Uthmeier
Alvarado's firm, Alvarado Strategies, was the first donor to Friends of James Uthmeier, contributing $1,000 in February 2025. Uthmeier was appointed Florida attorney general by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2025 after Ashley Moody was appointed to the U.S. Senate to succeed Marco Rubio, who was tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. secretary of state. Uthmeier will appear on the ballot for the first time in 2026, and is described by the Sentinel as staunchly anti-abortion.
Uthmeier filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood in 2025 accusing the organization of misrepresenting the safety of chemical abortion drugs. According to the Florida Attorney General's office, the lawsuit alleges violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Florida RICO Act, and seeks statutory penalties, punitive damages and injunctive relief. Uthmeier also joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2025, alleging that FDA approval and deregulation of abortion drugs had placed women and girls in harm's way.
The Federal Election Commission's campaign-finance database notes that newly filed summary data may not appear for up to 48 hours and that its spending totals do not include 24- and 48-hour reports of independent expenditures, according to the Federal Election Commission. These reporting limitations can delay a clear picture of campaign spending.
