Democrats pushed for a grand jury to end James Uthmeier's career before it started.
The grand jury ran its investigation, issued its report, and charged exactly nobody.
And when a reporter put a camera in his face Monday and asked if he'd make the same call again, Uthmeier didn't blink.
What He's Been Doing While Democrats Chase Him
Here's what James Uthmeier has been doing while Florida Democrats tried to build a criminal case against him.
He's locked up over 2,000 child predators since taking office in February 2025.
He built Alligator Alcatraz – the Everglades immigration detention center that made Democrats in Washington lose their minds.
He helped land the Trump Presidential Library in Miami.
He went to court to hold the line on Florida's immigration laws and told a federal judge he was willing to go to jail to enforce them.
Trump called him an "America First Warrior" and gave him his complete and total endorsement.
The Republican Party of Florida chairman called his Democrat opponent "a failed politician and liberal ambulance chaser."
That opponent is José Javier Rodríguez – a former Biden administration official who served as Biden's Assistant Secretary of Labor – now running to be Florida's top law enforcement officer.
That's the race Democrats would rather not talk about.
So they talk about Hope Florida instead.
What the Grand Jury Actually Found
Here's what happened, and what Democrats conveniently leave out when they tell this story.
In 2024, Florida settled a Medicaid overbilling case against Centene Corporation for $67 million.
A portion of that settlement – $10 million – was directed to the Hope Florida Foundation, the charitable initiative led by First Lady Casey DeSantis.
Florida Democrats screamed fraud.
A state representative called it money laundering.
They pushed for a grand jury.
The grand jury found no criminal charges to bring.
The panel wrote that "nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida" – which explains exactly why they couldn't indict anyone. Without someone to charge, there's no case.
Uthmeier – who was DeSantis's chief of staff at the time, not attorney general – has maintained the arrangement was entirely legal, citing Florida's long history of routing settlement money through nonprofits.
He pointed to Triumph Florida, the fund that handles BP Deepwater Horizon settlement money, as a comparable example.
The Democrat who investigated him the hardest, state Rep. Alex Andrade, just told a reporter the story has "been talked to death" – and noted that in less than a month, he won't even be a state representative anymore.
What Democrats Are Really After
The Hope Florida attack has one purpose.
Florida hasn't elected a Democrat attorney general since 2002.
https://twitter.com/JamesUthmeierFL/status/2107240590135996630?s=20
José Javier Rodríguez is a Harvard Law graduate who got pushed out of his own state Senate seat in 2020 by a ghost candidate scheme, then spent nine months at Biden's Labor Department before Biden left office.
Now he's running the only play Democrats have in a state Trump carried by double digits.
Make Uthmeier radioactive before November 3rd.
It's not working. Trump reaffirmed his endorsement. Uthmeier's political committee has raised over $2 million.
And Monday, on camera, after a year of proceedings and leaked reports and Democrat pressure campaigns, he looked into the lens and said he'd do it all again.
Absolutely.
The AG who put 2,000 child predators behind bars, built the facility that's become a symbol of America's border enforcement revival, and stared down federal judges trying to gut Florida's immigration laws isn't going to be toppled by a nonprofit grant that produced zero criminal charges.
Democrats should have figured that out by now.
Sources:
- Fox 49 Staff, "Uthmeier stands by $10 million Hope Florida settlement: 'Absolutely' would approve again," Fox 49, October 5, 2026.
- The Capitolist, "President Trump Endorses James Uthmeier for Full Attorney General Term," The Capitolist, 2025.
- Floridian Press, "James Uthmeier Highlights 2,000 Child Predator Arrests in Office," Floridian Press, August 13, 2026.
- CBS News Miami, "Trump endorses Uthmeier for Florida attorney general, signals strong support for 2026 election," CBS News Miami, 2025.
- Fox 35 Orlando, "Grand jury finds $10 million in Hope Florida funds 'misappropriated,' but no one charged," Fox 35 Orlando, 2026.
