Incumbent Suzy Lopez (R) and Andrew Warren (D) are running in the general election for Hillsborough County State Attorney in Florida on Nov. 5, 2024.
The election is taking place after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) removed Warren from office in August 2022 and appointed Lopez in his place. DeSantis suspended Warren after Warren signed a pledge not to prosecute cases related to abortion or gender transitions. In January 2023, a U.S. district court judge ruled that Warren’s action was protected under the First Amendment but that the court did not have the power to reinstate him. A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found in January 2024 that the court did have the power to reinstate Warren and remanded the case to the trial court to determine whether DeSantis had violated Warren’s rights. As of Oct. 10, 2024, the trial court had not issued a ruling in the case.
Before her appointment as state attorney, Lopez served as a judge and a prosecutor. Lopez says her record includes bringing crime rates down and making the county safer: “Driving crime to historic lows, protecting victims not criminals, and taking the fight to drug dealers who target kids.” Lopez says she will focus “on finding justice and making certain those guilty of committing crimes serve their time,” saying Warren had spent too much of his time in office pursuing political objectives.
Warren was first elected state attorney in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. Warren says he had reduced crime rates by 30% while in office, while Lopez “was handpicked based on one qualification – her blind allegiance to Ron DeSantis.” Warren says he will “continue to fight for the freedom of all Floridians to exercise their First Amendment rights, to protect our democracy by ensuring that voters decide who serves in elected office, and to uphold the rule of law by making sure that no one—not even the governor—is above the law.”
In an interview with the Florida Phoenix, political analyst Barry Edwards said the county had shifted politically since Warren’s 2020 win, referencing changes in party registration as well as the results of the 2022 elections: “We’ve seen the performance of the county in 2022 — all the countywide and statewide Democrat candidates got wiped out…the county has changed to a red-performing county.”
The Florida Thirteenth Circuit State Attorney is the chief prosecutor for Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, which includes Hillsborough County and its incorporated cities—including Tampa. As of the 2024 election, the incumbent oversees “132 Assistant State Attorneys and 160 victim advocates, investigators, administrators, paralegals, receptionists, and other support staff” with responsibility for prosecution and crime prevention programs.
A state attorney is an official elected to serve as the lead prosecutor for a specific jurisdiction. The office’s responsibilities include managing the jurisdiction’s prosecutors, setting department-wide guidelines for prosecutors to follow, and direct management of individual high-profile prosecutions. Prosecutors are responsible for deciding whether or not to bring criminal charges when wrongdoing is alleged, as well as for proving the charges in court, if necessary, and for recommending a sentence in the event a defendant is found guilty. This office is equivalent to the positions of district attorney, state’s/commonwealth’s attorney, county/city attorney, solicitor, circuit attorney, or prosecuting attorney found in other jurisdictions.