Florida - Tuesday April 16, 2024: Suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren has changed his mind and announced that he will seek re-election to a third term after all.
Warren has twice been elected to the post by Hillsborough County voters, in 2016 and 2020. However, on August 4, 2022, in the midst of his second term, he was suspended by Governor DeSantis for what the Governor called Warren's "neglect of duty."
Warren had signed a statement, along with other prosecutors nationwide, saying he would not pursue criminal charges against seekers or providers of abortion or gender transition treatments.
Warren fought the suspension in court arguing that his position on abortion and transgender issues were protected by the First Amendment.
On January 20, 2023, Northern District of Florida federal Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that Warren “was diligently and competently performing the job he was elected to perform," and "Warren’s well established policy...was to exercise prosecutorial discretion at every stage of every case." The Judge wrote that Warren's "suspension violated the Florida Constitution and was based in part on a violation of the First Amendment." However, Judge Hinkle also concluded that he lacked the authority to reinstate Warren.
Warren appealed Judge Hinkle's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Georgia. On January 8th, while awaiting the decision from the appeals court, Warren announced that he would not run for re-election saying "the courts have let his illegal political stunt stand, if I ran and won he could suspend me again for whatever reason he wanted."
Two days later, on January 10 of this year, the Georgia appeals court finally issued its decision concluding that Judge Hinkle does have the authority to reinstate Warren. The case was sent back to Judge Hinkle for re-consideration.
Judge Hinkle has yet to act, and Warren has decided not to wait any longer. He has changed his mind and announced his decision to run again "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, a democrat, made the announcement in a campaign ad (see below) that was released to the media this morning (Tuesday). In the video he cites his record as State Attorney and points to statistics that he says reduced crime in Hillsborough County by more than 30% during his terms.
“I’m running for election as State Attorney to serve the people—all the people—of Hillsborough County," said Warren in his announcement. "I’m running to keep our neighborhoods safe. I’m running to fight for victims and to make our criminal justice system better.”
He also criticized the Governor saying "he illegally forced me from office under armed guard,” and "threw out" the ballots cast by voters who elected him State Attorney for Hillsborough County.