Daniel Uhlfelder lands support for Attorney General bid from Senate heavyweight

The Grim Reaper — at least the guy who dressed up as the character — is getting some heavyweight support in his bid to take Ashley Moody out of her position as state Attorney General.

Miami Sen. Jason Pizzo, the chair of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice and a former assistant state attorney, said that he’s endorsing Santa Rosa lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder for Attorney General because of the way he’s championed the concerns of everyday Floridians.

“He has been a vocal and intrepid champion for Floridians — standing up to those who care only about a select few,” Pizzo said in a statement the Uhlfelder camp provided.

Uhlfelder grabbed national headlines when he dressed up in black robes and carried a scythe to remind Floridians that COVID-19 pandemic was far from over even though Gov. Ron DeSantis reopened the state earlier than most in 2020.

In the Democratic Primary Aug. 23, Uhlfelder is facing Democratic opponents Jim Lewis, a Fort Lauderdale criminal defense lawyer, and Aramis Ayala, who became the first Black State Attorney in 2017, when she was elected to the judicial circuit that covers Orange and Osceola counties.

The release from Uhlfelder’s campaign Wednesday noted that Uhlfelder’s fundraising shows momentum is on his side vs. his Democratic opponents.

He’s the only one of the three candidates who qualified for state matching money for his campaign. He’s also raised two and a half times the amount his closest competitor Ayala has. Uhlfelder also has nearly nine times the number of individual contributors she has, the release says.

But he’s going to have to raise a good deal more to beat the incumbent in the money race. As of July 15, Moody’s war chest totaled nearly $5.8 million, between her personal campaign account and her political committee, Friends of Ashley Moody.

That compares to Uhlfelder’s holdings that are at $69,892 between his personal account and his political committee, Hold Tallahassee Accountable.

Still, Pizzo is all in. Unopposed for re-election to the Senate, Pizzo has been touring the state, supporting his choice Democrats in their re-election bids and pledging $500,000 of his own campaign cash to support their bids.

“As a former prosecutor, I worked to bring justice for hundreds of victims of fraud and violent crime, and it’s time the people’s attorney did the same,” Pizzo said. “Florida needs an Attorney General who actually fights for our citizens and delivers justice for the most vulnerable, not the political aspirations of others.”