Andrew Warren says he’s not done serving Hillsborough County. Credit: Photo by Ray Roa

Early this month, a year after being suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis during a Tampa press conference alongside law enforcement leaders like Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister and former Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan, Andrew Warren looked relatively at peace. But from inside a South Tampa living room where he spent the day talking to television reporters, Hillsborough’s elected state attorney did not hide his frustration.

“It’s been a year now, since I was illegally suspended. It’s been five months since a judge said this was unlawful—and I’m still not back in office,” Warren told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “That is a long, slow slap in the face to the voters of Hillsborough County and anyone who believes in democracy and the rule of law.”

In the immediate aftermath of the suspension much-hyped by a governor who had not yet announced a run for the White House, Warren’s family got death threats. “A lot of the radical craziness that comes with our divisive politics today was focused on me and my family,” he added.

But in the last few months, he’s found a flexibility that eluded him for a long time in his professional life. He’s spent more time with his kids and even coached their softball teams.

“I’d be willing to trade some of that flexibility for a functioning democracy and a governor who followed the rule of law,” Warren said. “There’s a huge cost to this. The reality is that I was a willing public servant, and I was willing to make the sacrifices in my life, to do something that’s really important for our community. I look forward to going back to continue that public service, along with the sacrifices that come with it.”

Warren—who DeSantis suspended over “incompetence and willful defiance of his duties”—has not yet filed to run for the office he was removed from and told CL that he’s received lots of encouragement to go after a different seat, including one in the U.S. Senate.

He appreciates the confidence in his leadership, but stopped short of saying he would pivot.

“I’ve been a prosecutor for most of my career, I love serving this community. My kids are growing up here, and I’m not finished. I’m not done serving this county,” he added.

After initially withholding comment about Suzy Lopez, who the governor tapped to replace him and run the District 13 office, Warren has started to speak out. He called Lopez—who in June filed paperwork to run for a full-term as state attorney—a “political puppet” with no legal authority, who unlawfully and illegally occupies the office.

“That’s not my opinion. That’s what the judge said in saying that the executive order was unlawful,” Warren added, alluding to a ruling in federal court where Judge Robert Hinkle found, in part, that DeSantis violated the First Amendment. Hinkle also told Warren that he did not have the power to reinstate him, so right now, Warren’s fight to get his job back is in the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals where a three-judge panel has heard arguments but not yet issued a ruling.

Last week, Warren got some company in the ousted-state-attorney category when the governor—who is struggling to gain traction in his race for the Republican nomination for president—suspended Orlando’s Monique Worrell. In a statement following Worrell’s suspension, Warren called the move illegal and unconstitutional, and described the governor as “a small, scared man who is desperate to save his political career.”

“He wants to be a bully, but he’s actually a coward who has repeatedly violated the rule of law and the will of the voters to cover up his own weakness,” Warren added.

And while Warren seems most focused on a fight to uphold democracy, he surrendered that the country is now seeing how DeSantis weaponizes culture wars and pulls stunts to promote his brand. Instead of solutions, Warren said, DeSantis offers parlor tricks.

“He’s no substance and all sizzle. And that sizzle fizzled.”

“He’s no substance and all sizzle,” Warren told CL. “And that sizzle fizzled.”

And despite racking up more than 100 endorsements from fellow Republicans, there’s a sizable contingent of the GOP that’s unimpressed with a governor who continues to poll at a very distant second place behind former President Trump.

Joe Gruters—who served as chairman of the Florida Republican Party for four years under Gov. DeSantis—recently told the Washington Post that he’s not surprised by the governor’s struggle, declining poll numbers and spiraling campaign. “The more he is met by people, the more they are not going to like him,” Gruters said.

Jake Hoffman, Executive Director for Tampa Bay Young Republicans (TBYR), told CL that his group supports the suspension of Warren, who in 2019 actually addressed TBYR about a myriad of topics including voting and criminal justice.

Hoffman’s group endorses DeSantis over Trump in the primary, but he told WMNF public affairs program “The Skinny” that there are some hills he won’t die on—like the idea that Black people benefited from slavery. (Others believe that all white Americans benefited from slavery.)

“There’s a lot of criticism to go around on this campaign, and it’s very frustrating to watch, as someone who supported him,” Hoffman told WMNF. He wondered why the campaign didn’t try harder to pass the buck to Florida’s Board of Education, instead letting it dominate the news cycle for three weeks.

Hoffman even went as far as saying that Joe Biden would win the presidency, but claims that it will be because some local election laws favor Democrats.

There are just over 150 days until the first in-person caucus in Iowa. In politics, that’s a lifetime. With a frontrunner facing multiple criminal charges, 150 days feel like an eternity—meaning anything can happen, including DeSantis finding that spark he had 280 days ago at that election night rally celebrating a landslide win over former-Republican Charlie Crist.

Everyone we saw at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ victory party in Tampa

On that night in Tampa, DeSantis was hotter than a fajita coming out of the kitchen at Chili’s. But after a botched campaign announcement with Elon Musk on Twitter, his campaign has been plagued by a series of missteps on the trail and staff shake ups.

On top of this, after fundraising to protect the former president, DeSantis now insists that Trump lost in 2020. And, just last week, “Top Gov” said he’s “moved on” from his spat with Disney (and more or less begged the company do the same).

Far from sizzling, indeed. For a moment, DeSantis came off like a shot the GOP needed; right now, he tastes like a watered-down 2-4-1 margarita.

Voters will decide if that’s the flavor they want next year, but Warren says Americans are hungry for a leader who believes in the constitution, rule of law, and democracy. “Someone who is willing to solve problems,” Warren added.

First, DeSantis needs to solve some problems of his own.

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