garcía ran unsuccessfully for a seat on mercedes city council in 1984. in 1986, she became a legislative assistant for juan hinojosa. she was named chair of the hidalgo county urban county association. also in 1986, she was elected mayor for mercedes, the first woman to serve in that post, and went on to serve three terms, the maximum permitted by the city's charter. she was elected treasurer for hidalgo county in 1994 and was reelected five times, most recently in 2015.