Former GOP candidate says he’s suing ‘Republican faction’ for pushing him to leave state atty race

Attorney Thomas Feiter via his Facebook page.

Thomas Feiter, an Orlando attorney who lost in the Republican primary for state attorney in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit last month, announced at a press conference Monday that he will file a lawsuit claiming that the DeSantis administration interfered in the race.

The action will name sitting State Attorney Andrew Bain, former Republican state attorney candidate Seth Hyman, and “the rest of this Republican faction” who he asserts manipulated the political process to ensure that Bain, now running as a nonparty-affiliated candidate, would have a better chance of defeating Democratic candidate Monique Worrell in November.

“I’m here to bring attention to what was done by this Republican faction to undermine the integrity of our election process,” Feiter said during the press conference organized by the Worrell campaign in Orlando.

“The integrity of our elections is a cornerstone of our democracy. And when individuals get together to collude and plan and manipulate to interfere or defraud or mislead people as they have here, there are over 280,000 registered Republicans in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and they’ve all been deceived by this faction that is helping Ron DeSantis and Andrew Bain maintain power over us.”

Feiter alleges that James Uthmeier, Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff, as well as Orange County Republican Chair Erin Huntley and several other attorneys, met with him over the course of several weeks in May and June to pressure him to drop out of the Republican race for state attorney to pave the way for Bain to face Worrell one-on-one in November.

Feiter made a formal complaint to the Florida Bar in July alleging election interference by DeSantis, Uthmeier, Bain, and three other attorneys. An official with the Florida Bar told the Phoenix on Monday that complaint “was closed at the staff level on July 22.”

He now says his allegations were prescient because the Republican candidate who defeated him on Aug. 20, criminal defense attorney Seth Hyman, dropped out of the race last week. Hyman’s withdrawal means there will be no Republican in the general election and Bain will face Worrell in a one-on-one matchup.

Former Democrat

Bain is a former Democrat who changed his registration to no-party-affiliation in 2019, before being appointed as a judge in Orange County by DeSantis in 2020, according to the Orlando Sentinel . Orange and Osceola counties, which make up the Ninth Circuit, lean strongly Democratic, to the extent that no Republican ran against Worrell when she was elected state attorney in November 2020.

Worrell’s tenure in office was cut short after DeSantis suspended her in August 2023, accusing her of neglecting her duty to faithfully prosecute crime in her jurisdiction. She has denied the charge and fought her suspension in court, alleging DeSantis punished her for pursuing the progressive policies she’d campaigned upon.

Worrell’s suspension was the second by DeSantis of a Democratic state attorney elected by voters. Almost exactly a year before, in August 2022, he suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren , accusing him of nullifying state laws through refusal to prosecute violent offenders and to enforce criminal penalties against abortions or gender-affirming care.

Warren also has pursued his suspension through the federal court system and is running for re-election in November.

No endorsement

Feiter stressed on Monday that, despite comments by Bain to the contrary, he was not supporting or endorsing Worrell for re-election, saying they “are in disagreement ideologically on several things.” But he stressed that he wants to bring a focus on “what was done by this Republican faction to undermine the integrity of our election process.”

Worrell blasted Bain during the press conference, saying that as chief law enforcement officer in the circuit, “he owes the community an explanation,” adding that “he has failed to address questions in his involvement in what at worse appears to be a conspiracy to interfere in this election.”

Worrell went on to say that she hopes the FBI or Department of Justice will investigate the allegations made by Feiter, saying she didn’t trust state officials to fairly investigate the DeSantis administration.

Feiter, though, said he hopes the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office would investigate, calling it a “test of their integrity.”

The Phoenix reached out to Andrew Bain’s campaign for comment but did not receive an immediate response.