Former GOP state attorney candidate claims primary was rigged against him

GOP candidate claims primary was rigged against him

A former Republican candidate for state attorney in Orange and Osceola counties is calling the recent primary a sham, claiming the race was rigged against him.

ORLANDO, Fla. - A former Republican candidate for state attorney in Orange and Osceola counties is calling the recent primary a sham, claiming the race was rigged against him.

Andrew Bain initially filed paperwork to run as a Republican but later switched to an independent. After Republican candidate Seth Hyman won the primary, he immediately dropped out, leaving the field open. Thomas Feiter, who lost the Republican primary, has since filed a lawsuit.

Bain now faces Democrat Monique Worrell in the November election. Worrell, the state attorney suspended last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, was replaced by Bain. The two candidates confronted each other at a League of Women Voters event on Wednesday, where the lawsuit was briefly discussed.

"The federal government does not have standing to bring an investigation at this point," Bain said, addressing the allegations.

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"I think the appropriate response is for the voters to reject that kind of election interference," Worrell responded.

Feiter’s lawsuit accuses Bain, DeSantis, and others of orchestrating a scheme where a candidate ran as a Republican in last month's primary only to drop out and endorse Bain, a maneuver often described as a "ghost candidate" scheme intended to funnel votes to Bain.

Feiter argues that Bain is pretending to be an independent while being a Republican. Before filing the lawsuit, Feiter said he reported the matter to the Florida Bar in early July.

"Florida has this long history of ghost candidates," said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida. "In the past, people have gotten in trouble for this maneuver because they’ve been found to have violated campaign finance regulations or other laws. Generally speaking, it's not illegal to try to have a ghost candidate and tamper with the elections as long as you don't do something that is illegal."

Feiter has called for an impartial investigation, saying, "We have to have somebody truly fair and impartial come in and be the arbiter and the fact finder."

The lawsuit and the accusations continue to add heat to the contentious race as Bain and Worrell prepare for the upcoming election.

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