ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Thomas Feiter sounded glum as he sat in the well-decorated conference room of his downtown Orlando law office Thursday.
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The day before, Feiter (pronounced “fighter,”) learned that the man who defeated him for the 9th Circuit State Attorney Republican primary, Seth Hyman, had dropped out of the race just two weeks after securing a place on the November ballot.
Hyman claimed it was to consolidate the votes against Monique Worrell, the Democratic candidate and presumed frontrunner in the blue district. He would’ve been competing against independent Andrew Bain, who was appointed by DeSantis after he suspended Worrell last year, and who Hyman has now endorsed.
Feiter had spent most of the summer calling Hyman a “ghost candidate,” a term used to describe candidates who appear on a ballot to draw votes away from others. Prior to the primary, Feiter warned that Hyman would drop out despite Hyman’s insistence that he would stay in the race until November.
Rather than feeling vindicated, Feiter said he was heartbroken.
“There’s hundreds of people that work at State Attorney’s Office, and I think they deserve a leader who is there on the merits and not somebody who is just a product of the Ron DeSantis spoils system,” Feiter said.
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During his interview, the Republican candidly called out the DeSantis-led faction of his party that he described as consumed by fealty to the governor rather than focusing on public service.
He further warned that Hyman’s departure from the race set up DeSantis’ plan to interfere in the November election. Should Worrell win, Feiter said he was told the governor plans to immediately suspend her again and replace her with Bain.
“They told me that Andrew Bain will continue to be the state attorney,” he said, referring to conversations he had with members of the governor’s senior staff. “They told me their plan was to wipe out this blue bubble.”
Feiter said he too was approached about dropping out before the primary but refused.
WFTV reached out to the governor’s team to ask if he promised to respect the will of the voters in November and did not receive a response.
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UCF political analyst Aubrey Jewett called Hyman’s move “unusual” since the candidate could’ve dropped out before he won the primary if he feared consolidating votes.
While DeSantis was able to oust Worrell for perceived neglect of duty in her first term, Jewett said the courts would have to decide if immediately overturning an election was illegal, since voters will know about her history if they re-elect her.
“It wouldn’t be great for local democracy in Florida. It would sort of be overriding the will of the voters,” he said, with a caveat that he believed Bain had a chance to win the election outright instead.
Feiter said he hadn’t decided if he would challenge Hyman’s dropping out in any way, which happened just before ballots were set to be finalized and printed.
He also shared his thoughts on the state of ethics in Florida.
“We just have to have people in the positions of power to have the courage to enforce the mechanisms already in place.” he said, while calling the shakeup in the race election interference. “We have enforcement mechanisms. They’re just not being enforced.”
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