Democrat Daniel Uhlfelder — aka the ‘Grim Reaper’ — running for Attorney General

Screen shot froM Daniel Uhlfelder campaign video.

Santa Rosa Beach lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder — the merry-prankster thorn to Republican policies who may be best known by his “Grim Reaper” schtick — is running for Attorney General.

Uhlfelder is the third Democrat in — and the second big name, following former State Attorney Aramis Ayala, who filed last week — to run for a chance to take on Republican Ashley Moody.

Uhlfelder kicked off his campaign with a two-minute, 40-second video released Tuesday on Twitter. The video introduces himself as someone grounded his whole life in the belief that people should make a difference. He also recognizes himself as someone who, yes, dressed up as the Grim Reaper to protest Florida’s relaxed COVID-19 responses, but who also is “an average attorney and family man.”

“You probably heard the term ‘armchair activist.’ You know, someone who binges cable news and retweets the latest hot takes, and doesn’t do much else. Well, that’s not really me,” Uhlfelder says, opening his video.

“Actually, that’s me. Yeah. The guy in the costume,” he adds, as the video shows him watching news reports of himself dressed in his Grim Reaper costume.

Uhlfelder is known for his anti-Gov. Ron DeSantis pranks and statements that have included flying banners behind airplanes over Republican events, and for speaking out on topics ranging from beach privatizations to Confederate flags; voting rights, to COVID-19; and the need for a permanent Holocaust memorial in Florida.

The video tells a bit of his life story, explaining how his family fled Nazi Germany and lost family members in the Holocaust, and saying his parents raised him to make a difference. It notes he went to Stanford University and got his law degree from the University of Florida.

“Activism is kind of in my blood,” he says.

In the video, Uhlfelder rips into both DeSantis and Moody, calling the Attorney General “the Governor’s personal attorney.”

“Floridians deserve an Attorney General who actually wants to do the job of an Attorney General, not be the Governor’s personal attorney,” Uhlfelder says. “Someone who will advocate for voting rights, consumer rights, fundamental human rights, instead of someone who is there to push a harmful political agenda just to advance her own political career.”

Today I am announcing my candidacy for Attorney General in Florida. Ron DeSantis and his sidekicks in Tallahassee have been warned. pic.twitter.com/i15q0zAoEN

— Daniel Uhlfelder (@DWUhlfelderLaw) March 8, 2022

In a statement provided to Florida Politics, Moody campaign spokesperson Christina Johnson said, “It’s clear that the Democrats, obsessed with defunding the police, have struggled to recruit a candidate to run for the office of Attorney General. Desperate and disorganized, they have now turned to a radical ex-prosecutor who has a history of failing to defend our police.

“Florida voters will have two very diverse and discerning points of view and records in this campaign and we look forward to highlighting Attorney General Ashley Moody’s incredible work and successful track record in protecting Floridians.”