The Seminole County Democratic Executive Committee, in solidarity with The Orange County and Osceola County Democratic Executive Committees, stands firmly in support of State Attorney Monique Worrell’s return to office in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit. We congratulate Worrell and her campaign for a hard-fought and decisive electoral victory.
To honor this mandate from Orange and Osceola voters, we also demand that no further efforts be levied by the state criminal legal system to remove her from office. We believe that these efforts are being made by Governor Ron DeSantis to explicitly disenfranchise the voting citizens in these counties.
We are aware that a Polk County grand jury has been convened by a Lake County prosecutor, in corroboration with state officials, to launch an investigation based on baseless accusations that Worrell was negligent in her duties as a State Attorney. As Orange County State House Representative Anna Eskamani wrote recently in a commentary piece for the Orlando Sentinel, it is clear that these two largely conservative counties were deliberately “chosen to exclude the voters who elected and re-elected Worrell,” and that the Jury was convened by the state only “mere days before she took office after all other efforts to undermine her successful election failed.”
Florida GOP officials, under the direction of the Governor, have long tried to undermine the authority of Worrell and other progressive prosecutors throughout Florida. They have even weaponized various fatal shootings in Worrell’s district through a political attack ad campaign, despite protests and clear demands from the victim’s families not to politicize these tragedies and reopen wounds that they are “desperately trying to heal,” according to another report by the Orlando Sentinel last year.
Furthermore, the violent crime rate was actually trending downward before she was dismissed by Governor DeSantis in 2023, making claims of gross negligence towards the public safety of her district completely without merit, when the actual facts are taken into consideration. But despite this barrage of tasteless propaganda against the State Attorney, she has still managed to reclaim the post that was undemocratically taken from her during her first term, and Florida Republicans must honor this result.
It must not be forgotten, also, that outgoing 9th Circuit State Attorney Andrew Bain, who was appointed by DeSantis after Worrell’s removal, personally negotiated a plea deal that helped dismiss four felony charges of forgery for outgoing Republican State House District 45 Representative Carolina Amesty last year. It has recently come to our attention that Amesty has also been charged with two new felonies, this time for stealing government property after fraudulently applying for federal relief funds during the COVID 19 pandemic.
It seems to us that DeSantis and his allies in the Florida GOP are rather selective in their outrage and allegations against supposed government corruption here in the Greater Orlando area. It is clear that they are hoping that Central Florida voters will conveniently turn a blind eye to the credible allegations levied against members of their own party.