Aramis Ayala
State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida
In office
January 1, 2017 – January 1, 2021
Preceded byJeff Ashton
Succeeded byMonique Worrell
Personal details
Born (1975-02-02) February 2, 1975 (age 49)
Saginaw, Michigan, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseDavid Ayala
EducationUniversity of Michigan (BA)
University of Central Florida (MS)
University of Detroit (JD)

Aramis Ayala (born February 2, 1975)[1] is an American politician and prosecutor who was the state attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. She was elected in November 2016, and served as the chief prosecutor from 2017 to 2021.[2][3] In May 2019, Ayala stated that she would not seek re-election as state attorney.[4]

Early life and education

Ayala was born in Saginaw, Michigan, and graduated from the University of Michigan with an undergraduate degree. She then obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Detroit.[5]

Career

State attorney

Ayala announced she would not seek capital punishment in any case, causing Florida Governor Rick Scott to reassign potential death penalty cases to another State Attorney.[6][7] Ayala has filed lawsuits disputing this action in the Supreme Court of Florida, and in federal court.[8] Ayala lost her Supreme Court case against Scott. The Supreme Court of Florida (with one dissent) ruled against Ayala, saying that the governor was within his power to take cases away from Ayala because of her position to abandon the death penalty in all cases before her and not to exercise her discretion in each individual case.[9]

In July 2017, a video of two police officers pulling over Ayala went viral, due to allegations of racial profiling. Ayala requested the officers' information during the encounter, but did not take any legal action, writing that the stop "appears consistent with Florida law."[10]

2022 campaign

In May 2021, Ayala announced that she was running for Florida's 10th congressional district in 2022.[11] Initially considering a run for the U.S. Senate, she decided to run for Congress after incumbent U.S. Representative Val Demings announced she would run for United States Senate in 2022 against incumbent Republican Marco Rubio.[11][12][13] She later withdrew to run for Attorney General.[14] Ayala lost the general election to incumbent Ashley Moody by a landslide.

2022 Attorney General election results

2022 Florida attorney general election results map by county
Map legend
  •   Moody—50-60%
  •   Moody—60-70%
  •   Moody—70-80%
  •   Moody—80-90%
  •   Moody—>90%
  •   Ayala—50-60%

Main article: 2022 Florida Attorney General election

Incumbent Republican attorney general Ashley Moody ran for reelection, being challenged by Democrat Aramis Ayala, a former state attorney. Moody defeated Ayala in the general election by a 20-point margin.[15]

Florida attorney general election, 2022
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ashley Moody (incumbent) 4,651,376 60.6
Democratic Aramis Ayala 3,025,959 39.4
Total votes 7,677,335 100.0
Republican hold


References

  1. ^ "Aramis Donell Ayala". www.floridaresidentsdirectory.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  2. ^ Powers, Scott (November 8, 2016). "Aramis Ayala becomes first black state attorney in Florida's history". Florida Politics. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  3. ^ Cordiero, Monivette (August 23, 2018). "Don't know anything about Central Florida judicial picks in the Aug. 28 primary? We're here to help". Orlando Weekly. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  4. ^ "Citing Conflict With Florida Death-Penalty Ruling, Aramis Ayala Will Not Seek Re-Election As State Attorney". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  5. ^ Powers, Scott (July 15, 2016). "Aramis Ayala's 9th Judicial Circuit state attorney run could be historic". Orlando Rising. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  6. ^ "Fla. court won't rule immediately in case of prosecutor". Associated Press. April 26, 2017.
  7. ^ "Fla. court won't rule immediately in case of Aramis Ayala". WFTV. April 26, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  8. ^ Tziperman Lotan, Gal (April 11, 2017). "State Attorney Ayala files lawsuit against Gov. Scott in death penalty cases". Orlando Sentinel. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
  9. ^ Ayala v. Scott, 224 So. 3d 755 (2017).
  10. ^ "Despite outrage with Aramis Ayala video, experts say traffic stop was legit". Tampa Bay Times. July 13, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Fineout, Gary (May 26, 2021). "Florida's Ayala jumps into race for Demings' seat". Politico PRO. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  12. ^ Speck, Emilee (May 3, 2021). "Former State Attorney Aramis Ayala exploring run for US Senate". WKMG. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  13. ^ Fineout, Gary. "Democrats agonize over who should try to dethrone Rubio". Politico PRO. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  14. ^ "Democrat Aramis Ayala running for Florida attorney general". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  15. ^ "Moody defeats Ayala in race for attorney general". WFTV. November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
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