Democrat says Andrew Warren is misleading voters in Hillsborough prosecutor race

TAMPA — The Hillsborough state attorney’s race is largely seen as a contest between Andrew Warren, who was ousted from the job, and Suzy Lopez, appointed by the governor to replace him.

As they trade barbs, though, the third candidate in the race is taking shots at Warren.

Elizabeth Martinez Strauss, the fellow Democrat challenging Warren in the August primary election, has called him a “risky candidate” because of the possibility that if he was elected, the governor could just suspend him again.

This week, there came new drama: Strauss filed a complaint against Warren with the state elections commission, alleging that he had accused her of “dishonest, negative attacks.” The complaint cited a state law that says candidates can face a fine if they make a false statement about an opponent.

“I’m not really aware of what she’s saying,” Warren said Wednesday. “Frankly, I’m not really paying attention to it. My focus is on winning the election in November and getting back to the success we had in making Hillsborough County safer.”

Noted in Strauss’ complaint is a letter she sent to Warren in June, which criticized statements he had made on the campaign trail about his legal effort to be restored to office.

“You are repeatedly announcing that you won your case, which is patently untrue,” she wrote.

Warren served as Hillsborough County’s state attorney from 2017 to 2022, when Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him. The governor cited statements Warren signed with other elected prosecutors that voiced support for abortion and transgender rights, and policies Warren enacted that discouraged prosecution of some low-level crimes. DeSantis appointed Lopez, a longtime prosecutor, to replace him.

Warren sued DeSantis in federal court in a bid to be restored to office. He alleged the suspension violated his First Amendment free speech rights. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle issued a ruling that was critical of the suspension, but concluded he was unable to restore Warren to office.

Warren appealed the judge’s ruling. Early this year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal issued an opinion that disagreed with some points in Hinkle’s analysis and ordered the judge to reconsider. Since then, the case has been stalled as DeSantis has asked the full 11th Circuit to review it.

In her June letter, Strauss cited multiple statements from Warren, a February social media post in which he wrote that “the court ruled my suspension was illegal,” and public speeches in which he has said that courts ruled the governor “broke the law” and the suspension was illegal.

The letter described a conversation Strauss said she had with Warren in which he told her Judge Hinkle had already written a new opinion in his favor.

Asked about that conversation Wednesday, Warren said he didn’t know what Strauss was talking about.

Strauss wrote that Warren was misrepresenting his case to the public, noting that there has been no final ruling in the case, and the legality of his suspension has not been decided.

“If you win the primary, these issues will likely cause you to lose to Suzy Lopez,” she wrote. “And even if you won the general, you would still lose to DeSantis as the circumstances now stand.”

Weeks after she wrote her letter, Warren was asked about her criticisms in an interview with Politico, responding that he was “not concerned with dishonest, negative attacks.” Strauss’s election complaint cited that comment, alleging that he “maliciously and willfully” called her dishonest to “influence the election.”

Warren has largely dismissed her criticisms, focusing instead on Lopez. Of his legal case, he said people can read the opinions for themselves.

Strauss meanwhile insists that there is too much uncertainty about the viability of Warren’s candidacy.

“You can still like him and feel bad for him, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw away your vote on him,” she said.

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