Scott Powers
Winter Park attorney Ryan Yadav said Tuesday he is contemplating a Democratic run for Florida attorney general.
Yadav ran unsuccessfully last year for the House District 30 seat. Republican state Rep. Bob Cortes won re-election, beating him, 53 to 47 percent.
“I have recently been contacted by people throughout the State encouraging me to run for Attorney General in 2018. I am seriously considering the venture and will make a decision over the summer,” Yadav declared in a message to Orlando-Rising.com. “Based upon my qualifications, trial experience, and fire in the belly — If I run I will win!”
The only declared candidate in the attorney general’s race so far is Republican state Rep. Jay Fant of Jacksonville.
Yadav’s race against Cortes last year was largely self-funded, with $75,000 in personal loans, plus about $23,000 in donations. Cortes hugely outspent him, with more than $370,000, and also received indirect support from the Republican Party of Florida and other organizations. Yadav received a few endorsements, including from school groups and unions, but little money.
Yadav, who turns 33 at the end of the month, has his own law firm in Sanford, practicing mostly criminal defense law, though he said he also practices a wide range of law.
“I feel that I have, in all candor, more legal experience, varied legal experience, than the past three attorney generals combined. And the Republican candidate has only done legal work for a bank,” he said, referring to Fant.
But Yadav also cautioned that he has a lot to contemplate before deciding to run, including whether he can assemble fundraising and grass-roots support for a statewide race.
“I’m not naive to the challenges of running a statewide campaign,” he said. “But I think it is within reason.”
