Amid a high-profile legal battle about his suspension by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Democrat Andrew Warren announced last week that he will run again this year for Hillsborough County state attorney against current State Attorney Suzy Lopez.
Warren was elected state attorney twice before being suspended in August 2022 by DeSantis, who accused Warren of “incompetence and willful defiance of his duties.”
He challenged the suspension in state and federal courts, with one case pending at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Warren “intends to be back on the ballot so voters can emphatically make it clear that they decide who represents them — not a governor who broke the law and abused his power for a political stunt,” Warren’s campaign said in an announcement last week.
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On Wednesday, at a bill signing in Reddington Shores, DeSantis responded to Warren’s campaign launch and Lopez’s work in Hillsborough County.
“You know, my action was based on the constitutional authority I have as Governor, and it was appropriate, what we did, and it has made Hillsborough County safer as a result,” said DeSantis.
“Criminals are held accountable. In a much more significant way since Susie Lopez has been the state attorney there in Hillsborough County. That’s just a fact,” continued DeSantis. “Talk to any of the sheriff’s deputies, talk to the sheriff himself about the change that’s happened.”
“Recycling criminals and letting them out going easy, that doesn’t work. And so our actions were appropriate, people can do whatever. But I will tell you this, people want to be safe, and in Hillsborough County, no one would have thought this was possible, even five years ago; Hillsborough County, probably by election day, is actually going to have more registered Republicans than Democrats. Can you believe that? No one thought that would be possible,” said DeSantis.
Warren, who was first elected as state attorney in the 13th Judicial Circuit in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, has contended that DeSantis targeted the “reform prosecutor” to score political points in the runup to the failed presidential bid.
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“On August 4, 2022, Ron DeSantis threw out your vote. He illegally forced me from office under armed guard,” Warren said in launch video. “My late son. My beautiful daughters. My strong wife. They inspire me to serve others — to do good. That’s why I took DeSantis to court.”
However, DeSantis pointed, in part, to a letter the twice-elected Democrat signed pledging to avoid enforcing a new law preventing abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Also, for example, DeSantis cited Warren’s policies that could limit the prosecution of cases related to bicycle and pedestrian stops by police.
When DeSantis announced Warren’s suspension on August 4, 2022, former Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan blasted the suspended prosecutor, calling Warren “a fraud.”
“I will try to make this brief, but let me tell you something. Andrew Warren is a fraud. Yeah. Did you get that?” said Dugan at the time.
“He’s a fraud; he has misled the people of Hillsborough County,” Dugan said.
Referencing the riots 2020 riots in Tampa during the BLM marches, Dugan again called out Warren.
“You remember back during the riots, we arrested 67 people one night. A few weeks later, he (Warren) has a press conference. And what does he say in his press conference? He says that there were no acts of violence,” said Dugan.
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“No property damage. He (Warren) must not have read the police reports. There were pictures of a police car, with broken windshields. As the cops tried to get out of their cars, protesters pushed their doors shut on them but wouldn’t allow them out of the car, said Dugan.
“When you say there are no acts of violence, when you say there’s no property damage in a press conference, where I come from you’re lying, okay,” said Dugan. “It’s about accountability and us being able to go out for dinner at night and not feel like we’re gonna get jacked by somebody.”
“He (Warren) has misled our community and it’s time that our governor stepped in,” said Dugan. “This is terrible day that our governor had to come and clean up our mess.”
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