A Florida state attorney suspended by Ron DeSantis in 2022 said the governor's a 'scared candidate who is desperate to rescue his presidential campaign'

• In August 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren, alleging he picked and chose which laws to enforce.
• Just over a year later, on Wednesday, DeSantis suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell, citing a "neglect of duty and incompetence."
• In a published opinion piece, Warren claimed that DeSantis suspended Worrell because he "is desperate to rescue his presidential campaign."

In an opinion piece for The Daily Beast, a Florida state attorney suspended in 2022 by presidential candidate and Gov. Ron DeSantis called him a "scared candidate who is desperate to rescue his presidential campaign."

In August 2022, DeSantis suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren, alleging he was picking and choosing laws to enforce after Warren said he wouldn't pursue cases related to abortion or criminalizing gender-affirming care. On Wednesday, just over a year after Warren's suspension, DeSantis suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell, citing a "neglect of duty and incompetence."

Under Florida's constitution, the governor "may suspend from office any state officer not subject to impeachment for that officer's malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony."

Warren previously challenged his suspension in court, where a federal district judge ruled DeSantis violated Warren's First Amendment rights but didn't have the authority to reinstate Warren as state attorney.

While DeSantis has the legal authority to suspend the state attorneys, the decision hasn't come without rampant criticism from his detractors, who allege he's disenfranchised the majority of voters who voted the state attorneys into office.

In his opinion piece, Warren argued that "DeSantis doesn't believe in the rule of law," noting that in arbitrarily replacing Worrell, "DeSantis just overthrew the results of a fair and free election because he disagrees with how the elected official is doing her job."

"He is denying the people of Orlando their right to have the state attorney of their choice," Warren said. "He installed the person he wants to be in office, rather than the one the voters elected."

DeSantis' decision to suspend Worrell on Wednesday comes as his campaign trails behind former President Donald Trump in polling. According to an average of polls deemed "major" by FiveThirtyEight, DeSantis is 39.4 percentage points behind the 45th president just weeks before the first GOP presidential debate, which Trump likely won't attend.