Worrell victorious in Dem primary
Beat out three others in Orange-Osceola state attorney race
Riding the wave of $1.5 million in last-minute ads, Monique Worrell beat out three Democratic candidates Tuesday night in a bid to replace outgoing Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala as the region’s top prosecutor.
“Thank you to everyone who bet on me!” Worrell wrote on Facebook after her triumph. “You have no idea what this moment means for our state, to this movement and to me. This victory is for every brown girl who was told she couldn’t. Who was lied on. Who was told it wouldn’t happen. Who was told she was too inexperienced. Who had the doors shut just for God to open them right back up. This is for you.”
Worrell, 44, clinched the nomination with nearly 43% of the vote in all precincts as of 9:30 p.m., according to the Florida Division of Elections. Belvin Perry Jr., the former Orange-Osceola chief judge who presided over the Casey Anthony murder trial, came in second with almost 32% of the vote.
Worrell, who has said her record as a criminal justice reform advocate stood alone above her opponents, pushed a platform focused on police accountability, mass incarceration and juvenile justice.
The former director of Ayala’s Conviction Integrity Unit, Worrell left the office in 2019 to work as chief legal officer for Reform Alliance, the national criminal justice reform organization co-founded by Jay-Z and Meek Mill. She also was a law professor for 16 years at the University of Florida and a founding director of the school’s Criminal
Justice Center.
Perry out-raised all the candidates, including Worrell by about $40,000, according to state records. But in the final weeks of the race, Worrell was helped by $1.5 million in ads from a political action committee backed by the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and Democratic billionaire George Soros.
The cash infusion from “Our Vote Our Voice” was more than twice as much money as the total amount all four candidates spent through their own campaigns.
Ayala, Florida’s first Black state attorney, said she would not seek a second term because of her continued opposition to the death penalty. The race, which focused on criminal justice reform and police misconduct, received national attention in the months after the May killing of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man who died pleading for help while an officer knelt on his neck.
The crowded field against Worrell also included Deborah Barra, Ayala’s second-in-command who supervises more than 165 attorneys and manages day-to-day operations, and Ryan Williams, a prosecutor who left Ayala’s office in 2017 and currently handles death penalty cases reassigned from her office to Ocala-based State Attorney Brad King.
No Republicans ran in the race. The winner of the Democratic primary faces Orlando criminal defense attorney Jose Torroella, a non-party-affiliated candidate, in the Nov. 3 general election.
Ayala was a looming presence in the race. The state attorney made national headlines three months into her term when she refused to seek death sentences in first-degree murder cases, which sparked a legal battle with then-Gov. Rick Scott that she ultimately lost. Ayala endorsed Barra more than a year ago before she suddenly withdrew support from her second-in-command late last month and backed Worrell, whose vision for the office was more aligned with hers. She accused Barra of minimizing the office’s work during Ayala’s tenure.
“This victory is for every brown girl who was told she couldn’t . ... This is for you.”
— Monique Worrell wrote on Facebook