Florida’s Attorney General is the state’s top law enforcement officer, charged with fighting corruption, protecting consumers, and holding the powerful accountable. That’s what makes the 2026 race between Republican James Uthmeier and Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez so extraordinary: Uthmeier, the current Attorney General, was never elected to this office. He was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis in February 2025, and his tenure has been defined not by independence and integrity, but by scandal, self-dealing, and the abuse of power.

“Alligator Alcatraz” — built in the Everglades, built on abuse of power

Uthmeier is widely described as the brains behind “Alligator Alcatraz,” the state-run immigration detention camp hastily erected in the Big Cypress National Preserve. The facility was built in the middle of the greater Everglades ecosystem, with Uthmeier bragging on Fox Business that escaped detainees would have “nowhere to run, nowhere to hide — only the alligators and pythons are waiting.” Investigations over reports of abuse have been filed by U.S. Senators, and a congresswoman who visited the facility stated that everything about it “screams inhumane and unnecessary.”

For a clean-water organization, the environmental implications are impossible to ignore: a massive detention operation was dropped into one of Florida’s most sensitive ecosystems, bypassing every environmental safeguard that exists to protect it.

Using the office to attack environmental accountability

Rather than using his power to go after the polluters fouling Florida’s waterways, Uthmeier has launched investigations into climate disclosure organizations, issuing subpoenas against groups like the Climate Disclosure Project, calling them a “Climate Cartel” and accusing them of “weaponizing” corporate governance against the free market. He has led multi-state coalitions threatening corporations involved with sustainable packaging groups.

Bottom line: The Attorney General isn’t going after polluters — he’s going after the people trying to hold polluters accountable.

The Hope Florida scandal

If “Alligator Alcatraz” shows how Uthmeier operates in the spotlight, the Hope Florida scandal shows how he operates behind closed doors. A grand jury was empaneled to investigate after the DeSantis administration secretly diverted $10 million from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation — taxpayer money that ended up in a political action committee controlled by Uthmeier and used to fight the 2024 marijuana amendment. Republican state Representative Alex Andrade, who led the bipartisan investigation, alleged Uthmeier directed nonprofit groups to request the money and has accused him of money laundering and wire fraud. Now, as the state’s chief law enforcement officer, Uthmeier is refusing to say whether he’s trying to block release of the grand jury’s findings. His best defense? He told reporters he has “not been indicted.”

As Rodriguez responded: “This Attorney General is focused on being part of the corruption and part of the cover-up. That’s not the kind of thing you want to hear from the chief legal officer.”

Jose Javier Rodriguez: the clean-water, anti-corruption alternative

A Harvard Law graduate, Peace Corps veteran, former state representative and state senator, Rodriguez has a proven record on key environmental issues. In the Florida Legislature, he authored and passed the most substantive climate change legislation in Florida’s history and championed bills addressing sea level rise planning for state-funded infrastructure and drinking water safety in public schools. Florida Conservation Voters declared that “no one has done more to protect Florida’s environment” than Rodriguez.

That’s why VoteWater has endorsed Jose Javier Rodriguez for Florida Attorney General. As VoteWater Executive Director Gil Smart said, Rodriguez has taken on polluters to protect the Everglades and ensure safe drinking water across the state. “We trust Jose to stand up for everyone who believes Floridians deserve clean water,” said Smart.

Florida’s Attorney General should be the People’s Lawyer — not a political operator under grand jury investigation who uses the office to wage culture wars against environmental accountability while building a detention camp in the Everglades.

Clean government and clean water are inseparable — and without the first, Florida will never achieve the second.