They sure do love to steal elections in Florida, huh? Via the Miami Herald:

The ghost candidate at the center of former Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles’ election-conspiracy trial said on the witness stand Friday that the more than 6,000 votes that were cast for him and likely tilted a razor-thin election to a Republican candidate were won dishonestly and he did it for the money.

Alexis Rodriguez said the only reason he agreed to change his party affiliation and run in Florida’s District 37 Senate race in 2020 was because he was in a financial bind after a divorce and was promised $50,000 by Artiles. Rodriguez said he never campaigned and never met his campaign manager in person.

“I’m ashamed,” Rodriguez told jurors. “I needed the money.” Republican Ileana Garcia was the unexpected victor in the district that runs from Miami Beach south through Palmetto and Cutler Bay. The controversial Republican who once said she believed people could outgrow being gay — she later apologized — and who authored a bill to spend $5 million on former President Donald Trump’s legal bills, won the November 2020 race by 32 votes after a recount. Incumbent Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez, who now works as an assistant secretary for the Labor Department in Washington D.C., was the heavy favorite. Garcia is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Alex Rodriguez pleaded guilty to two campaign-finance charges and agreed to six months of house arrest and three years of probation in exchange for testifying at Artiles’ trial, which started Monday.