Selene SanFelice
Lisa McLean will succeed longtime Public Defender Julianne Holt, winning the first election for the position in 20 years with 52% of the vote.
With Holt retiring after three decades in office, McLean ushers in a new era. She will lead 120 attorneys representing criminal defendants who can’t afford their own lawyers, along with a staff including legal assistants and investigators, and a $23 million budget.
Rocky Brancato came just short of victory Tuesday, securing about 48% of the vote. He worked for Holt for 25 years, becoming her operations director in 2021.
“I’m really excited to bring a fresh perspective and change to the public defender’s office,” McLean told Florida Politics on her way into Angry Chair Brewing to celebrate. “Rocky and Julie have done a great job but I think it’s time for something new.”
We find out in November if she will either work with a re-elected fellow Democrat, Andrew Warren, as State Attorney or potentially butt heads with his replacement, Republican Suzy Lopez.
McLean, a graduate of the University of South Florida and the Stetson University College of Law, worked locally as a public defender and prosecutor before opening her criminal defense firm in 2006. She ran on a platform of improved bail reform, expanded youth outreach programs, and partnerships to recruit from local law schools.
Brancato promised to transform the office’s Juvenile Bureau from an attorney training ground into a specialized unit with a specific attorney to handle cases in which a juvenile is charged as an adult. In December, Lopez charged a 14-year-old boy as an adult in a Ybor City shooting that killed two people and left 16 others injured. Brancato also vowed to to lobby state lawmakers to give his lawyers raises, and use innovative technology to the office’s benefit.
The 13th Judicial Circuit is the first Public Defender office in Florida to use Axon Justice, an artificial intelligence program that helps attorneys manage discovery and watch body cameras, per Brancato’s campaign.
McLean outraised Brancato about $226,000 to his $135,000.
