Ron DeSantis looms large in Andrew Bain-Monique Worrell debate

Gov. Ron DeSantis did not attend the Winter Park event, but his presence overshadowed a debate between two candidates running for State Attorney in Orange and Osceola counties.

Monique Worrell, the chief prosecutor thrown from office last year by DeSantis, and Andrew Bain, the DeSantis appointee who replaced her, went back and forth at the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Orange County’s Hot Topics monthly forum.

The exchanges were, at times, tense. The questions were direct. Some moments were downright bizarre in a debate that, as one LWV leader joked, put the “hot” in Hot Topics.

Worrell called DeSantis a dictator for overriding the voters to suspend her from office.

Bain said DeSantis was within his power in the state constitution to remove Worrell.

Their debate comes as Thomas Feiter, an ex-GOP candidate for State Attorney, filed an Orange County Circuit lawsuit accusing DeSantis, Bain and other GOP officials of election fraud.

Feiter alleged that the Republican candidate who won the August Primary, Seth Hyman, dropped out intentionally as a Republican orchestrated plan to set Bain up for a two-person race in November with no Republican competition, since Bain is an independent.

Feiter himself made a cameo at Wednesday’s debate. As an LWV member, he was first in line to drill Bain during the audience Q&A.

“My question for the candidates is this, what should happen to people who engage in criminal election fraud? And would you both welcome a federal investigation into our legal communities’ collective concern that Seth Hyman was a ghost candidate recruited to help Andrew Bain?” Feiter asked at the microphone in front of a crowd.

Bain said earlier that he supports the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigating any wrongdoing with its election police.

“You’re going to hear me say this a lot,” Bain said during the debate. “You’ve got to follow the law.”

To Feiter, the man now suing him, Bain answered, “You’ve said weird things. … Crazy stuff. … The last time we had a conversation, you told me you want to be State Attorney. … You couldn’t answer the question about why you wanted this job. I asked it to you four times when we went to dinner, and you could not answer the question other than saying that I had to wait my turn.”

Bain finished by adding, “I’m good, man. I told you all. I’m a big Black man. I don’t need to wait my turn for nobody.”

Bain’s comments caught Worrell off guard afterward as she tried to answer Feiter’s question.

“I was just thrown off for a minute,” Worrall said. “Yes, I would welcome an investigation.”

Forum moderator Fred Lauten, the former Chief Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, asked Bain if he was promised anything to leave the bench last year when DeSantis appointed him as State Attorney.

Bain said he wasn’t motivated by anything “other than my desire to keep the community safe.”

To the crowd of well-known names in the legal community, public officials and interested voters, Bain and Worrell presented their credentials for why they deserved to be elected in November.

Bain, a former Orange County Judge and Assistant State Attorney, pointed to his partnerships in the community and his good relationship with law enforcement officials for why he should remain State Attorney.

“It’s good to talk about all the things you’re talking about, but if nobody wants to follow you, then what’s the point of being the leader?” Bain said. “We are fully staffed for the first time in our office” in more than 10 years, he added.

Meanwhile, Worrell, a former defense lawyer and prosecutor, said she wasn’t just “tough on crime” but “smart on crime.” Her work in office includes hosting a gun violence summit as well as collaborating with law enforcement and the federal government.

“As a result of these initiatives, we’ve seen some of the lowest violent crime rate that this community has experienced in more than a decade,” Worrell said. “It is not just voting for the most qualified candidate in this race, it’s also voting to preserve our democracy.”

The full debate was livestreamed on the LWV’s Facebook page.