Dave Aronberg, frequently seen as legal analyst on TV, won’t seek reelection as Palm Beach County state attorney

Anthony Man, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Updated ·5 min read

Dave Aronberg, familiar to cable TV viewers across the country, said Monday he won’t seek a fourth term as Palm Beach County’s top prosecutor.

“Nothing is forever, and I am ready for the next chapter of my life and career,” Aronberg said in a phone interview. “It’s a bittersweet decision because I know that I’ll never love another job more or get to work with a better group of people.”

Aronberg said he didn’t know what his next job would entail. “Stay tuned,” he said, adding that he didn’t “mean to be coy” because “there’s nothing set yet.”

The time was right, at age 52, to make a change. “I’m at a stage in my life where I would like to try some new things,” Aronberg said. “I’m at a pivot point in my life, where I’ve been at this job now for 11 years, and after three full terms it’s time to move on.”

His current term lasts until January 2025.

TV

Aronberg is a familiar face to millions of cable TV viewers for his appearances providing legal analysis on CNN, MSNBC and NewsNation.

With the indictment of former President Donald Trump by a federal grand jury in South Florida, and the likelihood of a trial in Palm Beach County, there will almost certainly be even more demand for Aronberg’s analysis. (He prosecutes state cases, and isn’t involved in the federal Trump case.)

On Monday morning, he was on set in the Miami-area studio with anchor José Díaz-Balart during MSNBC coverage of the federal case against former President Donald Trump.

“It’s pretty damning,” he said. “The indictment shows that Donald Trump is involved in every step of this. He helped pack the boxes. He helped store the boxes. He helped hide the boxes, not just from the government but from his own lawyer. He disseminated information from within the boxes and he tried to get people to lie for him. … Really bad for the former president.”

Earlier Monday, he’d been on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program. Last week he discussed the Trump case on CNN and MSNBC.

As for a potential stint as a full-time television analyst, Aronberg didn’t endorse or disabuse the notion. “It’s a tough, competitive business. I’m not sure what the future holds, but I love doing legal analysis, and I don’t want to stop after my term is up.”

Because of his current job, Aronberg is not not allowed to accept payment for his TV appearances. In 2019, when he began turning up on TV as an analyst, he said he did receive a “Morning Joe” coffee mug, shirt and a jacket.

He said he doesn’t have an agent.

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Politics

Aronberg was elected as Palm Beach County state attorney in 2012 and reelected in 2016 and 2020.

Previously, he served eight years in the Florida Senate representing Palm Beach County, becoming the youngest state senator when he won his first term in 2002. He could have run for a final, two-year term before being forced to leave because of term limits.

Instead, he unsuccessfully sought the 2010 Democratic nomination for Florida attorney general. He made his political comeback two years later, winning the race for state attorney with 58% of the vote. He was reelected without opposition in 2016 and 2020 when no one came forward to run against him.

His decision not to run again is somewhat unusual for South Florida state attorneys, who have generally enjoyed long tenures if they wish.

Former Broward State Attorney Mike Satz served 11 terms until he didn’t run again in 2020, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is serving her eighth term. In Palm Beach County, one of Aronberg’s predecessors, Barry Krischer, served four terms as state attorney before retiring in 2009; his predecessor served 20 years.

Aronberg said he wouldn’t foreclose running for office again someday. “This is not the end for me in public office, at least I’m not intending it to be now.”

Political observers have long thought that he’d be a likely candidate for Congress at whatever point U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, decides to retire. There’s no indication that’s happening anytime soon; Frankel has filed paperwork declaring herself a 2024 candidate and is raising money for next year’s campaign.

State attorney

As state attorney, he runs an office with 120 prosecutors and 220 other staffers, deciding on policies about who gets charged for what crimes.

When he took office, he said he would emphasize gang violence, pill mills and con artists.

As state senator, Aronberg was more of a moderate-centrist than many of his Democratic colleagues, and as state attorney hasn’t been a liberal crusader. His official biography touts “a greatly improved working relationship with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies” during his tenure.

In the job Aronberg has spearheaded efforts to combat fraud in the region’s drug-addiction recovery businesses, especially at sober houses, which are group homes that shelter people recovering from drug and alcohol addictions.

And he has supported legislation that passed the Florida House and Senate this year that would legalize the use of fentanyl test strips that would allow people to test for the presence of the deadly drug. Aronberg has said if people are going to use illegal drugs and supplements from unknown sources they need to be able to protect themselves from dying.

His office prosecuted officer Nouman Raja for the Oct. 18, 2015, killing of stranded motorist Corey Jones on an Interstate 95 off-ramp – the first time in decades a police officer in Florida had been convicted of an on-duty killing. Raja was convicted of attempted first-degree murder and manslaughter by culpable negligence.

Miss Cleo

The graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School was an assistant Florida attorney general who specialized in fighting economic crimes early in his career.

In that role, he made big news investigating Miss Cleo, the self-proclaimed psychic and Jamaican shaman who was promoting the Psychic Readers Network on TV. She turned out to be neither Jamaican nor a shaman.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com, on Twitter @browardpolitics and on Post.news/@browardpolitics.