Former Deputy Attorney General George Sheldon is the first Democrat to officially file to run against current GOP Attorney General Pam Bondi in next year's election. The 66-year-old Sheldon was Deputy AG under Bob Butterworth, and he later ran the state Department of Children and Families under then-Republican governor Charlie Crist.
Until recently, Sheldon worked on child-welfare issues at the U-S Department of Health and Human Services in Washington DC. He says on issues like ObamaCare, Bondi has become too partisan – and the office of attorney general should be above the political fray.
"Pam has really adopted an extreme right agenda", Sheldon said. "The demagoguery around the Affordable Care Act, the decision to postpone an execution so you can have a political fundraiser."
A former state representative, Sheldon ran for attorney general once before, in 2002. He came in third in the Democratic primary.
Reacting to Sheldon’s announcement, Bondi’s campaign released a statement saying "voters in Florida will have a clear choice between two distinctly different candidates."