In another odd turn in an increasingly bizarre Orange Osceola State Attorney’s race, Democratic candidate Monique Worrell and former GOP hopeful Thomas Feiter stood side-by-side Monday to call for a federal investigation into a purported conspiracy to boost a non-party-affiliated candidate for the post.
Feiter also announced he intends to file a lawsuit contesting the results of the Aug. 20 Republican primary, which he lost soundly to Seth Hyman. Just two weeks after his victory, however, Hyman dropped out of the race, saying he saw no path to victory.
Worrell and Feiter claim Hyman colluded with the GOP establishment to step aside, and that the goal was to avoid splitting the conservative vote with Andrew Bain, the current state attorney who is registered to no political party but was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Feiter said his lawsuit will accuse Bain, Hyman and others involved in the alleged plot.
“I am here to bring attention to what was done by this Republican faction to undermine the integrity of our election process,” Feiter told reporters, adding his appearance with Worrell was not an endorsement of her campaign. “There are over 280,000 Republicans in [Orange and Osceola counties]. All of them have been deceived by this faction that is helping Ron DeSantis and Andrew Bain to maintain power over us.”
Hyman has repeatedly denied the accusations, while Bain’s campaign spokesperson Robert Gammons on Monday called the press conference “a distraction on the part of Ms. Worrell.” Worrell implored Bain to “stand up and do the right thing” by responding directly to the allegations.
“It is incumbent upon Bain as the chief legal law enforcement officer here in this community to make a statement,” Worrell said. “These are accusations of criminal activity and he is implicated in those allegations. He needs to come forward and he needs to make a statement, and it needs to be one just beyond, ‘I don’t know anything about this.’”
Monday’s press conference was only the latest in a neck-snapping series of developments dating to last year, when DeSantis suspended Worrell, who had been elected to the post, and put Bain in her place. A former Democrat, Bain re-registered as NPA to run in a Democratic-leaning Orange-Osceola district that would be hard for a Republican to win. Worrell stepped forward to run against him in November.
Though polls showed neither had much chance to win in November, Feiter and Hyman engaged in a hard-fought August Republican primary, which Hyman won and then abandoned. Republican party officials publicly lamented the exit of their “tremendous and hardworking candidate,” but announced they would not put forward a new nominee.
That move fueled Feiter’s claim that Hyman was a “sham candidate” who operated at the behest of GOP higher-ups, including DeSantis, to help boost Bain.
“We need to be winners who know how to lose, not losers who know how to win,” Feiter said.
Feiter’s accusations began weeks ahead of the election, when he claimed he was pressured to leave the primary against Hyman in exchange for an eventual judgeship. But his complaints to that end, filed July to the Florida Commission on Ethics and the Florida Bar, were rejected.
Still seeking to boost those claims, Feiter last week turned over text messages and other records to local news outlets, including the Orlando Sentinel. Messages he exchanged with Hyman on May 9 indicate the eventual nominee was at least aware GOP leaders backed Bain’s candidacy, warning his opponent, “DeSantis is endorsing Bain and his supporters don’t want either of us in the race.”
“If you ever want to run for anything in the future, they will make it impossible. I would still recommend you withdraw from the race. The entire Republican establishment is very mad you are running,” Hyman wrote. In an email to the Sentinel, Hyman said the text was “completely my own personal opinion and speculation,” and pushed Feiter to drop out as he was “a detour on the road to my ultimate victory in November.”
After the Monday press conference, Hyman issued a statement denying being offered anything to leave the race: “My clear purpose in running was to stop Monique Worrell from being re-elected and I made an extremely difficult choice to withdraw in order to maximize the chances of that happening for the safety of this community.”
Hyman further called Feiter “an obvious ghost candidate for Monique Worrell,” accusing him of the interfering with the election to help elect her.
Bain’s camp has so far remained mum on the allegations ahead of Wednesday, when he and Worrell are expected to appear in one of two debates going into November.
“In this election, the voters have a clear choice between a former suspended State Attorney who failed to prosecute crime, and State Attorney Andrew Bain who has proven to hold violent offenders accountable and protects our community,” Gammons said Monday in response to Worrell’s comments.
Polling released by Worrell’s campaign in July indicated a strong lead for the Democrat in a hypothetical three-way race, with Bain, a no-party-affiliated candidate, polling in third regardless of whether Feiter or Hyman won.
Bain fared better in a one-on-one with Worrell, with 30% of respondents backing him, but 28% of likely voters at the time said they were undecided. Neither campaign has since released more recent polling data.
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