Andrew Bain’s top prosecutor says leaders aren’t going anywhere after Monique Worrell win

Voters ousted Andrew Bain in the State Attorney’s race Tuesday, but Bain’s chief assistant prosecutor told staff that the office’s leaders have no plans to look for new jobs, according to media reports.

The email comes as some fear that Gov. Ron DeSantis will intervene again and throw Democrat Monique Worrell out of office a second time after voters again elected her to be chief prosecutor in Orange-Osceola counties.

Worrell beat Bain with 57% of the vote Tuesday.

WESH 2 News obtained an email sent by Bain’s Chief Assistant State Attorney, Ryan Williams, after Bain lost Tuesday. Bain ran as an independent after DeSantis appointed him to replace Worrell following her suspension.

“We have made amazing progress together these last 14 months. We therefore imagine some of you are concerned … about losing all that progress. The leaders of this office have no plans to begin looking for work elsewhere. Rather, we are all committed to following and enforcing the law in the same aggressive way we have been,” Williams wrote.

Worrell beat Williams when she ran for State Attorney in 2020 for the first time.

Thomas Feiter, a Republican who lost in the August Republican Primary, warned that he believes DeSantis will throw Worrell out of office again and accused Bain of collaborating with Republicans to meddle in the race.

Feiter unsuccessfully sued after he said Republican Primary winner Seth Hyman was a ghost candidate. Hyman dropped out before November, clearing the way for Bain to face Worrell alone on the ballot. Hyman and Bain denied Feiter’s allegations.

Meanwhile, Williams addressed staff in an email with the subject line that read “The Future.”

He wrote: “We live in tumultuous times. I have great confidence, however, in our laws that establish a deliberate system of checks and balances to ensure no one source of power in our society can dominate the others. While I have no special or particularized knowledge or information, my confidence in the Constitution will allow me to continue doing my job to the best of ability up until the moment Florida law tells me I may no longer do so.”

Florida Politics reached out to Worrell and Bain over the weekend and did not immediately get a response for comment on Williams’ message.

“Tonight’s results underscore the resilience of our democracy and a powerful message from the people: No governor’s petty political maneuvers and no amount of dark money can silence the voices of thousands who demand a fair, smart approach to justice over the failed, outdated policies of the past,” Worrell said in a statement following Tuesday’s win.