Analysis: How 3 Florida Democratic attorney general candidates aim to unseat Ashley Moody

Aramis Ayala stared down a Republican governor and sheriff when she refused to seek death sentences as a Central Florida state attorney during her one term that ended last year.

Last week she was in a Midtown Tallahassee neighborhood of lawyers, retirees, and state employees raising money for her campaign to be Florida’s next attorney general.

Ayala, Florida’s first Black state attorney, is competing against Santa Rosa lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder, and Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorney Jim Lewis to challenge incumbent Ashley Moody in November.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Dodd decision to repeal a constitutional right to an abortion has focused attention on state attorney general races in Florida, Wisconsin and elsewhere.

When politics is personal

Florida’s attorney general can decide whether to defend or challenge abortion restrictions.

The office also issues formal legal opinions at the request of public officials on questions relating to state law, such as the Parental Rights in Education bill ('Don't Say Gay') and the Stop WOKE Act, approved this year by the Florida Legislature..

The three Democrats say they were offended personally and professionally by Moody's silence while those bills and a 15-week abortion ban were debated and by her decision to defend them when opponents mounted legal challenges.

They argue instead of defending the constitution, Moody serves as Gov. Ron DeSantis' personal attorney in defending unconstitutional initiatives that strip Floridians of privacy and voting rights.

“Why are we still having conversations about the right to vote? A right that death has literally paid the price for,” said Ayala, standing in front of a table with an array of flatbread appetizers, shrimp cakes, and lemon bars at a fundraiser hosted by former Leon County Water and Soil Supervisor Tabitha Frazier.

Ayala told the group democracy is on the ballot in November.

Uhlfelder tells voters that Moody is part of an effort to turn Florida government into an autocracy.

Lewis agrees with both and adds, but he is the most experienced lawyer in the race.

“Moody is basically a Trump disciple and mouthpiece for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ right wing agenda. That is wrong. That office should not be politicized to push anyone’s agenda,” said Lewis.

Moody's office did not respond to a request for a comment.

The Ashley Moody Attorney General website, where campaign volunteers are recruited, states Moody is, "leading efforts against the unlawful federal vaccine mandates, the lack of border enforcement by federal officials, and the harmful actions of Big Tech."

And in the last week of July, more than half of the tweets from Moody's Twitter account either attacked President Joe Biden for migrant deaths at the Southern border, the number of immigrant felons rearrested - with video from FOX news, migrant deaths at the Southern border, fatalities from fentanyl smuggled from Mexico, or praising a DeSantis initiative to recruit out-of-state law enforcement officers.

It's David vs. Goliath

Lewis served eight years as a financial crime investigator and prosecutor for former Attorney General Bob Butterworth.

He pledged not to spend more than $15,000 on the primary campaign and has yet to campaign north of Tampa. This is his second race for the position, having finished third in 2010 when he ran with no party affiliation.

Uhlfelder leads the Democrats in fundraising, the number of contributors, and personal endorsements, including Congressman Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, state Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, and Butterworth.

He is the only one of the three to qualify for matching campaign funds ($160,000).

Moody has 20 times more cash on hand ($1.1 million) than the three Democrats combined, and has the support of a unified Republican Party and its corps of allied business interest like the Florida Retail Federation, which endorsed Moody recently.

“It really is David versus Goliath,” said Samantha Hope Herring, while Ayala worked the room.

Hope Herring is a Democratic National Committee member from Fort Walton Beach. As a party official she won't endorse anyone, but after scouting Ayala's performance at the Florida Blue Convention earlier this month, she drove three hours across the Panhandle Tuesday to watch Ayala in a more intimate setting.

Three days earlier, the Tallahassee-raised Uhlfelder seemingly stunned into silence a crowd of 200 when he explained how the Dodd decision paves the way for DeSantis and Moody to continue to undermine democratic principles.

A self-described small-town lawyer, in a slow, punctuating speaking style, linked Dodd and the repeal of a constitutional right to an abortion, to voting and privacy rights, and then the Holocaust, in which his great-grandparents perished.

The road signs he flagged at the Leon Democrats Flip Florida Blue Breakfast in July included the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the Stop WOKE Act, the 2022 redistricting bill, and the 2021 anti-riot bill – all DeSantis’ initiatives, tied up in court and defended by Moody.

“We are living in a state of Florida, where the largest employer in the state is getting targeted, Disney, because they disagree with DeSantis politically. That's autocracy,” said Uhlfelder.

“We are at a time when pictures of two male penguins who love each other is enough to get a book ban,” said Uhlfelder about a Miami-Dade parents protest over “And Tango Makes Three,” a children’s book about two males raising an orphan that may violate the parents' rights education law.

While Ayala tells her audiences that either DeSantis and Moody knowingly promote and defend unconstitutional laws or they don’t know the law or history, Uhlfelder tells his that Moody serves as DeSantis' personal attorney at their expense.

“What has Ashley Moody done for us,” Uhlfelder asked.

“In December 2020 she signed on to a brief to overturn a valid election. She supported a group that did robo calls to get people to go to January 6. She has stood in the way of the Affordable Care Act becoming common law, and she sued cruise lines that wanted to vaccinate people. Ashley Moody must go” said Uhlfelder.

Moody’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Courting a base

Democrats generally concede the race is between Ayala and Uhlfelder, with Lewis putting limitations on his campaigns and referring to himself as “the old white guy” in the race.

Lewis is 64 and sees the job's top priority to make Florida safer by making Florida cops the best policing agencies in the country.

"I know what police want and I know how to use police in the most effective way," said Lewis.

Ayala and Uhlfelder pitch their campaigns on Moody as a threat to democracy and personal privacy.

Uhlfelder was the last to enter the race and the first to announce if Florida approves an abortion ban, he would refuse to prosecute women for receiving one or doctors for providing them.

Shaquille O'Neal wrote Ayala a check but Uhlfelder's campaign has six times more contributors than Ayala and twice as much money for the August primary. He has six times the number of contributors that Ayala has (2,874 to 457) and posts 2,076 contributions of $25 or less.

“People make investments with their money,” said Uhlfelder about a grassroots base he has cultivated.

By patrolling Florida beaches dressed as the Grim Reaper to protest DeSantis’ COVID policies, Uhlfelder built a Twitter following of more than 280,000.

He has also battled property owners over beach access, and Walton County over the flying of the Confederate Battle Flag.

When asked about competing against Uhlfelder’s social media following and advantage in contributors, Ayala explained there is a difference between the virtual world and the real world.

“The win is based on the connection to the community, not a virtual world,” said Ayala, citing her work as a public defender, prosecutor and university professor.

Ayala is best known for announcing she would not seek the death penalty after taking office in 2017. Then Gov. Rick Scott reassigned 29 cases from her office and the Legislature cut $1.3 million from her budget.

Ayala said her opposition to the death penalty grew out of the realization that capital punishment is expensive, does not serve as a deterrent, and that Florida leads the nation in death case exonerations.

“I don’t know how you support the death penalty other than trying to maintain the status quo, which is what we need to change,” said Ayala.

Democrats talk strategy

Supporters say a Black female candidate in a year when abortion rights are at issue will bring excitement and energy to the Democratic ticket.

“And it’s energy we need to win at the margins,” said DNC member Hope Herring, quickly adding she wasn't endorsing any candidate.

But a campaign consultant speaking on condition of anonymity said with her death penalty stance, a fall campaign for Ayala is one “30-second commercial away from a kill shot.”

The Democratic primary is August 23. The winner will face Moody in November.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida attorney general race: Three Democrats focus on Ashley Moody