It'll be George Sheldon against incumbent Pam Bondi for attorney in November.

Sheldon, a Plant City official and one-time top official in the Obama administration, easily defeated state Rep. Perry Thurston in Tuesday's Democratic primary for attorney general.

There was speculation the race could be close, but with 73 percent of the precincts reporting, Sheldon led Thurston 62 percent to 38.

Sheldon will take on Republican Bondi, who has a big head start in fundraising, and libertarian Bill Wohlsifer.

A Tampa Plant High grad who earned both his undergraduate and law degrees at Florida State, Sheldon was the more experienced of the candidates. He had several stints in state government, including time under Bob Butterworth, who was the last Democrat to serve as attorney general. He was also secretary of the Department of Children and Families under former governor Charlie Crist.

More recently, Sheldon was ab assistant secretary for the federal Administration for Children And Families.

Bondi is well-known in conservative circles due to her defense of Florida's ban on same-sex marriage and unsuccessful campaign against President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. She will likely get extra help from the Republican Party of Florida.

The Democratic primary was mostly amicable, aside from some legal wrangling over whether Sheldon met the residency requirements to run. Sheldon and Thurston, the outgoing state minority leader, mostly echoed each other on policy and reserved their criticism for Bondi.

Both candidates accused Bondi of politicizing the office and sharply criticized her for opposing a medical marijuana amendment on the November ballot.

Sheldon has also faulted Bondi's decision to refrain from getting actively involved in utility rate cases - a turnaround from the practice that was common among previous attorneys general, including two Republicans.

Thurston, a third-generation Floridan from the Fort Lauderdale area, was a public defender and worked in private practice before being first elected to the State House in 2006.

This will be Sheldon's second run for statewide office. He lost to Crist in the 2000 election for education commissioner, which was an elected position at the time.