Ayala launches campaign for State Attorney General post

By St. Clair Murraine

Outlook Staff Writer 

Not too long ago, it seemed like Aramis Ayala was thinking about launching a campaign for either the U.S. Senate or Congress. 

Such options are off the table now, though, as Ayala confirmed her intentions to run for the State Attorney General position. Ayala, who filed paperwork with the state Division of Elections for the 2022 election, has to win the Democratic nomination in August to have a chance to go head-to-head with Ashley Moody, the Republican incumbent, in November.

Her platform will include every issue she championed during her tenure as Orange-Osceola State Attorney, Ayala said. Ayala, whose upset victory in 2016 made her the first Black woman elected in Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit, announced her candidacy in Tallahassee earlier this month.

During her four years in office, she established several reforms, including those pertaining to non-violent crimes and domestic violence. But she insisted that one of her top priorities is ensuring that justice is properly applied in the courts.

“When I speak of justice, I think of equality. I think of fairness. I think of the goodness of people,” she said during an interview last Thursday. “I think of a level of consistency that gets people safe and they can feel a higher level of integrity. It involves compassion. It involves accountability on both sides. Justice must embody the best of who we are.”

Ayala, who didn’t seek re-election in 2020, said she was considering a run for the U.S. Senate, although she never launched a campaign. Her interest shifted to running for the congressional set that Democrat Val Demings has, after Demings announced she’s challenging Republican Marco Rubio. 

She silenced all of that when she announced her plans to run for the State Attorney General office. She has a strong Tallahassee base and was introduced by Tallahassee City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox when she held her announcement press conference.

Ayala said her decision was based on what she saw during the recently completed legislative session. 

“The decisions that I’ve made are on behalf of the people,” she said. “Quite often the powerful who have a singular agenda to maintain the status quo and maintain their own power, and coincide into one agenda doesn’t always speak to the people. So while that voice may be loud, it’s not pervasive.

“When I think about taking on this race and running to become the next attorney general, it’s about being that voice of people.”

One of the biggest reforms that Ayala brought to the State Attorney’s office caused a dust up early in her tenure when she banned prosecutors in her district from arguing for the death penalty. She immediately won praise from the anti-death penalty backers across the country. However, at the same time then Gov. Rick Scott challenged her decision and the Florida Supreme Court eventually ruled that she could not remove the death penalty in capital murder cases.

Meanwhile, Ayala continued her reform movement by creating a Conviction Integrity Unit. One of her biggest victories through the unit was getting a verdict against Jamaican Dwayne Brown overturned. Ayala’s office presented proof that Brown was wrongfully convicted on marijuana charges in 1999.

Brown, who was facing deportation before winning his release, has since become an America citizen.