Florida Democrats have suffered through a bruising era going back to the 2020 election, but they received a boost of energy this week with the announcement that two former elected officials are now candidates for positions in the Florida Cabinet. 

Adam Hattersley, a former one-term state representative from Hillsborough County, announced on Tuesday that he is now a candidate for chief financial officer. That announcement was followed up on Wednesday with the declaration that Aramis Ayala, the former state attorney in Orange and Osceola counties, is now running for attorney general.

The announcements come during a particularly dreary period for the Florida Democratic Party. They recently fell behind Republicans for the first time ever when it comes to leading the state in voter registrations, and its minority status in the Legislature has allowed Republicans to move major pieces of conservative legislation this winter on issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights.

Hattersley, who will turn 44 later this month, is using the issue of escalating property insurance rates in the state as a cudgel against GOP incumbent Jimmy Patronis.

“There’s a major, major problem in the CFO’s office,” he told Spectrum Bay News 9 on Friday. “That person is supposed to be the firewall between insurance companies and the average Floridian. And we’ve been seeing property insurance rates, home insurance rates just go through the roof. And at best, they’ve done nothing. And at worst, they’ve exacerbated the problem.”

Hattersley won a state House seat as an underdog in eastern Hillsborough County in 2018, but then announced a year later that he would run for the Congressional District 15 seat. But he was defeated by Alan Cohn in a bitter Democratic primary in 2020 (Cohn would go on to lose to Republican Scott Franklin).

He has credentials that could possibly win crossover votes in November. A Navy and Iraq war veteran, he has previously said that he was a political independent before being recruited by the Florida Democratic Party to run for the District 59 seat in 2018.

“Your values don’t have to be defined the letter next to your name,” he said. “And when it comes to finances and it comes to my own personal finances, I’m actually quite conservative.

"The only difference between me and most Republicans is it doesn’t bother me that maybe two men want to get married.”

For Aramis Ayala, it was seeing some of the actions going in during the current legislative session that spurred her candidacy for Attorney General.

“There were so many attacks on our democracy and there was a level of helplessness for people who care about the rights and the individual rights of Floridians,” she said. “And when I saw our current attorney general remain not only quiet but more supportive of an agenda different from the people’s agenda, when it is her responsibility to support the people, I can no longer stay silent.”

The current attorney general is Ashley Moody, who will be formidable in November. She’s raised close to $4 million in her own campaign and PAC, and was endorsed this week for reelection by former President Donald Trump.  

Ayala released a statement to Spectrum Bay News 9 Friday denouncing that endorsement:

“That a sitting Attorney General would side with someone who attempted to cheat the people of their sacred right to vote is a glaring example of everything wrong with politics."

Ayala served one term as state attorney in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit from 2017-2021. The first Black state attorney in Florida history, she created a political firestorm shortly after taking office in 2017 with the announcement that she would no longer seek the death penalty for defendants charged by her office.

That led to a legal battle with then-Gov. Rick Scott, who ultimately reassigned 29 death penalty cases from her office. Republican lawmakers later cut her office’s budget by over $1 million. She sued, but lost her legal fight to get those cases back at the Florida Supreme Court.

“I’m clearly against the death penalty,” Ayala said. “But I can tell you that when I’m speaking to opponents, or when I’m speaking with people, it’s not about my feelings. As I said earlier, this is about the facts, and when you’re talking about the death penalty, you’re talking about spending $51 million every single year to keep the death penalty alive.

"That is above what we spend for a life sentence without the possibility of parole. So I think that it’s important for us to recognize the facts that go along with this.

Christian Ziegler, the vice-chair of the Republican Party of Florida, said the Democratic candidacies announced this week don't change any of the calculus for the state GOP.

“The wind is in our sails,” he said. “We’re not going to take it for granted. We’re going to work hard.”

But he said that all of the momentum is with the Republicans in Florida now.

“This state is moving farther and farther to the right, making it much more difficult for Democrats to win, and these two individuals, no one in this state even knows them,” he said. “I mean, the attorney general candidate for the Democrats (Ayala), the only reason people know who her is because she was bankrolled by George Soros, and that’s not just going to fit in this state of Florida.”

Ayala did receive financial backing in her 2016 race for state attorney from Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who has helped fund a number of progressive candidates for state attorney.

Ayala says she’s prepared for the incoming criticism that she may receive from Republicans.

“I am 100% prepared to take on this race,” she said. “What I can tell you is that people want a voice. People want fairness. People want equity — equality and justice. And that’s what I stand for.”

There are other Democrats running for Cabinet positions. Jim Lewis, a South Florida criminal defense attorney, is also running for attorney general.

The other Democrats running for CFO include Karla C. Jones from Orlando and Tyrone Noel Javellana from Hollywood.

Small business owner Ryan Morales from Clermont is the lone Democrat to file to run in the race for agriculture commissioner.