Outgoing State Attorney Bain cites DeSantis executive order, won't cooperate with transition to new Worrell administration

Updated: Andrew Bain backpedaled after the contents of his Dec. 9 internal email was leaked and widely reported; he has now committed to assisting with incoming State Attorney Monique Worrell's administration. Bain said in a new statement, reported by the Orlando Sentinel, that he will leave office on Jan. 6, 2025.

Andrew Bain, outgoing State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, today said in an internal email that he refuses to assist with the transition for incoming State Attorney Monique Worrell. Her term officially begins Jan. 7, 2025.

Worrell is a Democrat who was elected in 2020, then removed from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis and replaced by independent Andrew Bain in August 2023 for allegedly failing to uphold the law. Critics saw the move as political as DeSantis ran unsuccessfully for president.

In the email, obtained by VoxPopuli, Bain explained his refusal to cooperate, saying that he accepts the election results, but still "do[es] not yet feel I can assist her in that transition" because the Executive Order 23-160, removing Worrell from office, is still in effect. Bain said the order prohibits Worrell from “performing any official act, duty or function of public office” and needs to be reversed by another executive order or a Florida Senate hearing and decision.  

“Without one of these things, I do not feel I can lawfully assist in a transition to an individual whose lawful suspension was affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court,” Bain wrote. 

Board-certified government law attorney Clifford Shepard, founding partner of the Maitland law firm Shepard, Smith, Hand & Brackins, strongly disagreed with that assessment. 

“That is not the way any of that works,” he told VoxPopuli in a Monday phone interview. "That is avoidance of the lawful process of an election for which, without challenge, Ms. Worrell was duly qualified and ran and won handily.”

Shepard said the executive order expired with the 2024 election. “Once you have an election, that order has no more authority until or unless a new order is issued,” he said. “The governor’s authority does not supplant the electorate.” 

Worrell released her own statement Monday, calling Bain’s refusal to cooperate with the transition “a betrayal of democratic principles” and a “stark reminder of the lengths to which some will go to cling to power.” She called the governor’s executive order a “political stunt.”

Worrell, who won the election with 57 percent of the vote, said, “Elections are the ultimate accountability measure in a democracy. No executive order, no political maneuver and certainly no personal grievance can override the will of the people.”

She said that delays were an “affront to the people [the State Attorney’s] office serves” but that regardless of Bain’s resistance, she and her staff were prepared for a “seamless transition,” and she was "ready to lead on day one.”