And with voting in the Florida primary already underway,
there is a race which has garnered little attention,
the contest to see which Democrat will run
against Republican Ashley Moody for state attorney general.
Now since taking office,
Moody has sued the federal government
seeking to overturn the presidential election.
She has tried to undermine the Affordable Care Act,
and she's fought for more restrictions on abortions.
She has millions of dollars in her campaign war chest
and the unflagging support of governor Ron DeSantis.
So the general consensus is that she can't be beat.
Nevertheless, there are three Democrats in the primary
hoping to challenge her.
Today, you will hear from all three of them.
We begin with Aramis Ayala,
the former state attorney from Orlando.
>>I am running for attorney general
because our constitutional rights are being challenged,
our freedoms are being challenged,
all while we have a governor who's saying we're free,
and we have an attorney general
who's not making sure we're free.
You're looking at the right to privacy.
You're looking at, even now,
we're concerned about the right to marry
and certainly our right to vote.
So that and so many other constitutional rights
are the issue.
We're also looking at an issue with public safety.
I'm running to make certain we have real public safety.
Unfortunately, there is rhetoric that says,
oh, we have public safety,
or we're talking about mass incarceration.
But during COVID, we saw,
there were a lot of people who weren't safe.
People on the jobs aren't safe,
and you can ask a lot of these moms
who are losing their sons, and I mean,
look at what's happening with the guns.
People go to their churches, their schools,
and they're just not safe.
And then finally, the economy.
I am running to see that we can build an economy
that works for everybody,
an economy that we're looking at corporate issues,
and we're willing to challenge them,
have an attorney general who's not afraid
and will never ever back down.
>>The criticism of you when,
especially when it comes to crime,
is that you would be soft on crime
given the belief that you opposed the death penalty,
which was an issue when you were state attorney there
in central Florida with governor Scott coming in
and removing cases from you, because, he claimed,
you said that you did not believe
in ever asking for the death penalty.
I wanna give you an opportunity
to just sort of address the issue,
what it is it exactly was your position,
and how would that be reflected
in your role as attorney general?
>>So as attorney general,
I'll start right there off the bat.
The job is to look at the evidence.
We pursue justice based upon what we know is legal
and what we know is just.
And when you look at the death penalty,
or I'll start back when I was a state attorney.
I did a analysis of the death penalty.
I was not a death penalty opponent,
but I took an oath to pursue justice.
I took an oath, and I made a promise to the people
that I would make evidence-based decisions
and not just do things that have always been done.
And what I learned is that
the death penalty has no proven deterrent effect.
So when people are concerned if we're gonna have more crime,
it's actually the opposite.
Every bit of research that I have reviewed
and that is available for the public
proves that a death penalty, that states that have it,
actually have higher homicide rates
than the states that don't.
It does not deter people from committing crimes.
And people may not like it. They get emotional about it.
But the evidence does not support the death penalty.
The other part of the evidence is that
Florida leads the nation and death row exonerations,
meaning that we get it wrong the most.
So to maintain a policy that we know has very low efficacy,
knowing that we get it wrong,
we definitely need to put a halt on it.
And then we look at the money we spend in it.
$51 million every single year to make sure
that we keep the death penalty alive.
>>We're right now in the midst of the death penalty phase
in the Nicholas Cruz case who shot and killed students
and teachers at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas.
Those parents of those whose children were killed
want Nicholas Cruz to receive the death penalty.
What would you say to them?
>>I would say to the parents
that what happened was horrific.
I get concerned about my kids every single day.
I have an 8 year old and a 10 year old.
And it's important for us to understand
that our emotions are very valid.
They're free. We can want someone to die.
We can want all the worst things.
We can want payback. We can want the retribution.
The truth is that as the elected person
who's supposed to pursue justice,
it is our job to continue to speak truth,
to manage the feelings,
to help people continue to feel what they feel,
and also understand that we have an obligation
to pursue justice.
Now the part of this as the attorney general is that
I don't see the cases
where we're going to make the decision on pursuing death.
And as the attorney general, unlike my current one,
I believe that the local issues, that's what they trump.
When they believe that in their local area,
if that's what they believe down in Broward,
then that will be supported.
I believe that we cannot continue
to try to usurp the authority
of our local elected officials.
>>Ashley Moody has joined in a number of lawsuits,
some to try to overturn the election,
others to oppose the Affordable Care Act, things like that.
Tell me where you believe the power
of the attorney general should be.
And when will you make a decision to join certain lawsuits?
>>So when it comes to being the attorney general,
it is the job under the constitution
and the Florida statutes for the attorney general
to be the voice and the representation of the people.
What that means is that, if you differ from the governor,
if you differ from general politics,
and your own personal agenda,
you must side with the constitution and the people.
It is unfair that the people have an attorney
who is the attorney general,
who is acting and behaving against their interests.
When you join a lawsuit
that tries to undermine and undo the will of the people
in a lawful election where there's absolutely no,
once again that word, evidence to support turning it over,
then you're now acting against the will of the people.
>>Give me an idea of some of the areas
that you think need to be addressed,
need to be examined more closely
through the office of the attorney general
that are not currently being looked at.
>>The things that I think
the attorney general should be looking at,
in which I will start immediately,
are investigations into corporate actions,
are consumer issues.
The one that I think of very specifically
are fraudulent insurance companies.
When you look at what happens,
these insurance companies are collecting premiums
from individuals, Floridians,
to cover them in case of emergency, to cover them,
and then when a hurricane happens,
all of a sudden, they're out of business.
And there have been no launched investigations
to see what is happening.
I believe that this is a pattern that needs to stop,
and is the job attorney general to protect people
from these unfair practices.
All of the corporate interests that are trumping the people
and that are hitting us in our pockets,
it precisely what the job of the attorney general is.
>>Now you and I both know that if you were the nominee,
you would be quickly vilified.
How do you envision laying out a campaign
if you are the nominee that could overcome that,
because financially, you won't have the resources
that Ashley Moody will have,
and yet still be able to break through?
>>So we have to remember,
right now, abortion rights are on the line.
There's nothing bigger than that
when it comes to women's rights.
Voting rights are on the line.
There's nothing bigger than that
when it comes to Floridians and our desire to vote.
So as a woman, there's going to be this support behind me
like never before,
to be behind and ensure the privacy rights
so that women have safe access to abortion
so that they can make their medical decisions
and have bodily autonomy.
This is what she's against. This is what I'm for.
That's gonna allow women to rally behind me
when the attacks about me being a woman comes around.
When I'm dealing with the issues of voting,
not only will I have Black people, Hispanics,
all those who have had their voting rights impacted,
those who have historically,
their ancestors have fought for their right to vote,
these are people who are gonna rally around that
because they understand that there's an attack on right.
We have a return of Jim Crow.
We are dealing in some dangerous times
that the voice of a people must be spoken
from the attorney general.
So if she is a Black woman,
that's what exactly was going to happen.
A woman who's going to fight for privacy,
a woman who's going to fight for voting rights,
and a woman who's going to stand up for marginalized people.
This is what is happening in Florida. We are not free.
If you're talking about all the people
who are having issues, they need a representative.
Women need a representative,
and that's what I'm going to be.
Black, Hispanics need a representative, immigrants, LGBTQ,
and certainly students who just wanna be educated
and not indoctrinated.
This is what we're up against.
And it would be me versus her
that she doesn't have any background
with regard to the work that she's done.
Being a favorite is not gonna fly in 2022.
It's about whether or not you have the work,
the courage and the will of the people in your heart.
>>Still to come, Jim Lewis and Daniel Uhlfelder.