Tensions emerge between democrats in Hillsborough's State Attorney race

One of the most anticipated local elections in Florida this year is the Hillsborough County state attorney race between twice-elected but currently suspended Democrat Andrew Warren and the woman Ron DeSantis appointed to replace him, Republican Suzy Lopez.

But Warren must first get through his primary next month against fellow Democrat Elizabeth Martinez Strauss, who entered the race to oppose Lopez earlier this year when Warren was still battling in court to be reinstated and was not actively running.

Hillsborough County State Attorney Suzy Lopez (Office of the State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit)

Tensions have emerged between the two since Warren got back into the race in April and Martinez Strauss declined to drop out. She recently criticized him about what she says are “misstatements” he has made about what the courts have actually said about his case.

She’s now filed a complaint with the Florida Elections Commission, claiming that Warren had referred to a letter she sent to him last month as “dishonest,” which she says is a violation of a Florida statute that makes it unlawful for a candidate to make a false statement about another candidate.

(A spokesperson for the commission says it’s unlikely the claim will be reviewed before the Aug. 20 primary.)

“I don’t agree with what the governor did to him,” Martinez Strauss told the Phoenix. “But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with him misrepresenting the status of his case. … What I have a problem is him winning [in November] and then if he gets removed [again by DeSantis] a voter saying, ‘I wouldn’t have voted for him if I knew that could happen.’”

Martinez Strauss wrote a critical letter to Warren last month, alleging that he had been “misrepresenting the facts about your legal case to the voters, which can really harm Democrats in this election.”

Intraparty dispute

The facts that Martinez Strauss alleges that Warren has misrepresented include what U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said about Warren’s situation in his original ruling on his case and what a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said in January when it ruled that Judge Hinkle should reconsider his decision that he lacked authority to reinstate Warren.

“I’m not sure I know what she’s talking about,” Warren told the Phoenix on Tuesday after the three state attorney candidates concluded a debate in the Northwest Hillsborough enclave of Town ‘n’ Country. “People can read the opinion. They can read the newspaper about it. The opinions speak for themselves, in terms of the illegality of the suspension and the fact that the appellate court now sent it back for my possible reinstatement.”

Warren’s case remains stuck in the Eleventh Circuit after attorneys for Gov. DeSantis asked for a rehearing by the full court. That was in January, yet the appeals court still has not ruled, leading Warren’s legal team to write and ask the court last week to speed up the process.
In her complaint with the Elections Commission, Martinez Strauss argues that Warren’s comments to Politico Florida earlier this month that he was “not concerned with dishonest, negative attacks,” was referring to her.

For his part, Warren insists he’s paying little attention to what Martinez Strauss has been saying.

“I’m not even aware of it,” he said of the complaint with the Elections Commission. “Look, my focus is on the November election and getting back to the state attorney’s office to reverse the alarming trend of increased crime over the past two years.”

Verbal shots

During their debate on Tuesday night, Warren and Lopez took repeated verbal shots at each other, with each claiming that crime rates were lower in Hillsborough County when they ran the state attorney’s office.

If they face each other in the fall, the race will be watched throughout Florida, as DeSantis has made it clear that he’ll do whatever he can to ensure that Lopez remains in charge.

Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Screenshot: Florida Channel)

“Criminals are held accountable in a much more significant way since Suzy Lopez has been the state attorney there in Hillsborough County,” the governor said in Redington Shores after Warren announced that he was back in the race.

“That’s just a fact. 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.”

DeSantis suspended Warren two years ago for alleged “neglect of duty” and “incompetence” after he signed a pledge not to prosecute alleged crimes arising from abortion or transgender care.

He followed up last August by suspending another elected Democrat, Monique Worrell of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit (Orange and Osceola counties) for actions that he maintained constituted “neglect of duty and incompetence.”

Worrell recently lost her legal challenge in the Florida Supreme Court but is running and, according to her campaign, is leading in her race for re-election in November.

When the Phoenix asked DeSantis last month how he would use money raised from his recently formed political committee, he mentioned the state attorney races in Hillsborough and Orange and Osceola counties. “I think those two races are significant.”

Party hero

Warren became a hero to Hillsborough Democrats after he narrowly defeated 16-year GOP incumbent Mark Ober in the 2016 election. His popularity only increased during his first term in office, when he exercised prosecutorial discretion in opting to charge protesters involved in demonstrations following the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2000, but not all of them.

He won reelection by more than 6 percentage points that fall. And since he reentered the 2024 race, he’s been endorsed by dozens of sitting and formerly elected officials in Tampa and Hillsborough County and has raised more than $290,000 in his regular and political committee campaign accounts.

Martinez Strauss began her career in the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s office in Tampa. She moved to Louisiana to work as a prosecutor in New Orleans before returning to Tampa last year to run her own criminal defense practice. She has raised slightly more than $30,000 in the contest.

She says a lot of top Democrats in the county aren’t happy with her for challenging a figure whose reputation, among liberals anyway, has only been enhanced by the perceived unfair treatment by DeSantis.

“Oh yeah, I’m the black sheep,” she said of her reputation with some Hillsborough Democrats on Tuesday night for not backing out of the primary.

“They’re like, ‘Get out of this man’s way. He was the incumbent and … so no, I don’t get any support from the Democratic leaders. But the people on the ground, like [sheriff’s] deputies and officers and just everyday people — they’re ready for a change. They’re not interested in all the drama. He’s not universally ‘The Golden Child.’ He is to Democratic leaders, and that’s fine.”

What will DeSantis do?

Ione Townsend, chair of the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee, said she’s always glad to see candidates step up to run.

“Do I wish we didn’t have a contested primary? Yeah,” Townsend acknowledged, adding that both candidates have the right to run.

“As the chair and as the party, we don’t step on the scale during a primary election,” she added. “We’re not weighing in on that race. We’ll let the voters decide.”

Hillsborough County Democratic strategist Victor DiMaio said he was happy when Martinez Strauss entered the race in February and became the first Democrat to challenge Lopez, but considered her a “placeholder” candidate until Warren entered the contest.

“If she stayed in, she should have run a totally 100% positive campaign, and she would establish herself for a future race,” he said — adding that he’s filed his own share of ethics and elections complaints over the years that never went anywhere. “But I’m disappointed to hear about this.”

During his appearance in Pinellas County in April after Warren announced he was running again, a television reporter asked the governor whether he would re-suspend Warren if the former prosecutor wins in November.

DeSantis did not directly respond but said, “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, everyday would be Christmas. I think it’s all going to work out and I think it’s going to be good.”

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected]. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.