Monique Worrell, Jose Torroella facing off
Voters will choose between a criminal justice reformer and a “law and order” candidate to replace Aramis Ayala as state attorney for Orange and Osceola counties.
After winning a four-way Democratic primary in August, Monique Worrell faces Orlando criminal defense attorney Jose Torroella, a non-party-affiliated candidate, in the Nov. 3 general election.
Torroella, a self-described “independent conservative,” has described his opponent as a “radical leftist,” predicting “anarchy” if she’s elected. Worrell has said Torroella is “extremely divisive” and characterized his campaign as based “not in fact but in fear.”
Worrell has attracted support from national figures in the wake of widespread protests against police brutality and institutional racism in the criminal justice system.
No Republicans are running for the position.
Worrell has a major financial advantage, having amassed nearly $177,000 in campaign donations compared to roughly $9,000 for Torroella. Before winning the primary, Worrell was also helped by least $1.5 million in ads from a political action committee backed by the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and Democratic billionaire George Soros.
Ayala, who opted not to seek a second term, has endorsed Worrell.
The winner of November’s race will become the region’s top prosecutor, overseeing thousands of criminal cases across Orange and Osceola counties.
Who they are
Worrell, 44, was the last Democrat to enter the primary race but clinched the nomination with 43% of the vote.
She was hired by Ayala in 2018
as director of the Conviction Integrity Unit, which investigates claims of innocence by those already found guilty. Worrell left a year later to work as chief legal officer for Reform Alliance, the national criminal justice reform organization co-founded by Jay-Z and Meek Mill.
After graduating from the University of Florida’s law school, she became an assistant public defender and then a private criminal defense attorney. She returned to her alma mater, teaching lawstudents for 16 years and becoming a founding director of UF’s Criminal Justice Center, according to her campaign.
Torroella, 63, has been a criminal defense attorney since he opened his practice in 1992. Before that, he worked for three years as a prosecutor under former Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar.
He graduated from Suffolk University’s lawschool in Boston. Previously, he worked in brand management for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company after obtaining an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, according to his campaign.
He unsuccessfully ran for circuit judge in 2012.
Where they stand
Worrell has pledged to end “unnecessary incarceration” for those convicted of non-violent offenses and expand services for victims, even thosewhosecases don’t result in a prosecution.
She has also pushed for holding accountable police officers who engage in serious misconduct; reforming cash bail to eliminate penalties on the poor; focusing on rehabilitation for people addicted to drugs; and keeping children out of the juvenile justice system or adult court when possible.
“Criminal justice reform is not something people should be afraid of,” she said. “It doesn’t meanwe’re going to open the prisons and let everyone out. It doesn’t meanwe’re not going to hold accountable people who put our community in danger. It means we’re going to be smart on crime, rather than tough on crime.”
After a grand jury did not indict Louisville police officers for shooting and killing Breonna Taylor in her apartment during a botched nighttime raid, Worrell said on Facebook it was time to “come together to drive out the injustice and systemic racism in this country.”
“People are tired of seeing Black men and women murdered with no one being held accountable,” she said. “... No, there shouldn’t be riots and there shouldn’t be looting. But there also shouldn’t be murder of innocent, unarmed people sleeping in their homes by the government.”
Torroella said he is the “law and order” candidate and accused the current state attorney of “[decriminalizing] everything,” calling it an “open field” for “drug users and drug dealers.”
“They don’t prosecute anymore,” he said in a July interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “... They’re diverting everything there. In essence, it’s a free ride for many people that don’t respect the laws. Andthe people that don’t respect our laws and create havoc for our community knowthat.”
Torroella said he doesn’t think the region needs criminal justice reform. Under his administration, he said the State Attorney’s Office would be more “oldfashioned” and “strict.” He would add a unit in the office to prosecute political corruption, he said.
“The State Attorney’s Office is not going to be a place for social change or political matters,” he said in July. “We’re there to prosecute those peoplewho violate our criminal laws.”
Where they differ
Torroella criticized his opponent as “anti-American” for benefiting from a PAC backed by Soros and leaders of theFlorida RightsRestoration Coalition, which he described as “an organizationof convicted felons.”
“All her money pretty muchcomes fromthe radical left political machinery who controls the state attorney in all the cities where there’s chaos in America,” he said in a recent interview.
Worrell said people like Soros have rallied aroundher for being a “true reform candidate,” but she hasn’t promised anything inexchange for their support. She has also argued comments like Torroella’s evoke anti-Semitic stereotypes of wealthy Jewish people like Soros being “puppet masters that control elections.”
“I don’t know what about George Soros drives people crazy, but I don’t know him, so I don’t have any judgments to make against him,” she said. “It’s a right-wing talking point to make him seem like some evil monster looming the background.”
Worrell said she was “absolutely embarrassed” to hear Torroella call the FRCC “a group of convicted felons.” The coalition led the 2018 push to pass an amendment to Florida’s constitution that restored the voting rights of people convicted of felonies who completed their sentences.
“How dare he say someone who has served their debt to our society can’t participate in our election process,” she said. “It’s the same thing as saying they should not be allowed to vote.”
Torroella also criticized Worrell for never having been a prosecutor.
“I have concerns a lot of crimes are not going to be prosecuted, [and] a lot of crimes are going to be let go,” he said. “Nobodywould respect the law and they would do whatever they want.”
Worrell, who has said she did seek to become a prosecutor earlier in her career because she “did not align ideologically with the way that we prosecute cases in this circuit,” accused Torroella of making inflammatory claims without basis in fact.
“He’s using rhetoric to put people against each other, I believe unnecessarily so,” she said. “... I think it shows voters he really doesn’t have any issues to stand on.”