Andrew Warren, the former Hillsborough County State Attorney who was suspended and replaced by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, revealed Monday he won’t seek re-election because there’s a “high risk” DeSantis would just boot him out of a job again.
DeSantis took the extraordinary step to oust Warren, who was twice elected to serve as Tampa’s state attorney, in August 2022 after he pledged not to prosecute cases involving abortion or transgender health care.
Those enraged with DeSantis’ decision to oust an elected official—a move he’s since repeated, suspending Orlando’s elected state attorney Monique Worrell last year—had pushed for Warren to win his old job back.
In a statement on Monday, however, Warren said he doesn’t see the point in running if DeSantis is still in power.
“DeSantis broke our democracy, and it’s too fragile and too important to let him do it again,” Warren said. “So I’ll take one for the team and not run, as I continue to challenge the illegal suspension in court and fight to serve out my term on behalf of the community that elected me.”
Warren emphasized his decision wasn’t because he fears he’d lose. He claimed he’s had “countless” people urge him to run again, including Democrats, Republicans, lawyers, business leaders, cops, and civilians.
“If I ran and won, he could suspend me again for whatever bogus reason he wanted,” Warren said. “And then we’d be right back where we are today with an illegal, unqualified political appointee installed in the job.”
Warren was suspended and replaced by Republican Suzy Lopez, who was appointed by DeSantis. As of Monday, she’s the only candidate running for state attorney of Florida’s fourth-most populous county.
That’s likely to change soon, however, according to Ione Townsend, the chairperson of the Hillsborough Democratic Party. She told the Tampa Bay Times that local democrats believe that someone will challenge Lopez in the blue-leaning county, but an announcement can’t be made yet.
She added that Warren’s decision to not run is a blow, saying the county’s residents are losing a “big advocate.”
“We have a wannabe dictator running for president who wanted to show his chops and was willing to break the law to do it,” Townsend told the Times. “It’s an absolute shame.”
