Heider Garcia was officially sworn in on Thursday as the new elections administrator in Dallas County, replacing former election administrator Michael Scarpello, who retired this week after announcing his departure in October.
Garcia joins Dallas County with more than 20 years of experience serving as an elections administrator, most recently serving as the administrator for Tarrant County.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins administered the oath of office and praised Garcia for the experience and fairness he would bring to the city.
“Heider Garcia has a proven track record of running excellent elections in several places, receiving praise from elected officials in both parties and former Texas Secretaries of State. His thoroughness, fairness, and leadership abilities will be valued here,” said Jenkins, according to NBC 5 DFW.
During the event, Garcia expressed his excitement about the move, saying that he has already been in contact with many of his new coworkers since he was appointed.
“It feels good. It feels challenging. It feels humbling; I think that’s an important part of it. There’s a track record that I bring with me, but it’s a new place, a new community so, it’s important to approach the job humbly and learn about the new community I’m serving,” said Garcia, per NBC 5.
Garcia comes to Dallas County after resigning from his role in Tarrant County due to disagreements with recently elected County Judge Tim O’Hare.
“Judge O’Hare, my formula to ‘administer a quality transparent election’ stands on respect and zero politics; compromising on these values is not an option for me,” wrote Garcia in his resignation letter, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. “You made it clear in our last meeting that your formula is different, thus, my decision to leave.”
Following his resignation, Garcia was appointed to take up the role in Dallas County and wrote in a subsequent social media post that “Dallas deserves the best and I intend to work with that goal in mind.”
Garcia addressed his time in Tarrant County after he was sworn in, saying that he “learned a lot” during his time in the role.
“I left a lot of good friends. We had a lot of good accomplishments, and I take that with me to keep moving forward. I think it’s important,” said Garcia, per NBC 5.
“There’s a saying we have in Spanish … you don’t go back even to try to gain momentum, you keep going forward.”
Garcia will now be tasked with leading the second-largest elections department in Texas, one that has experienced issues with the election process in the past.