Florida Attorney General

The Florida attorney general is an elected cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state, and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs.

Attorney General of Florida
Seal of the attorney general of Florida
Incumbent James Uthmeier since February 17, 2025
Department of Legal Affairs
Style	The Honorable
Type	Chief legal officer
Member of	Florida Executive Branch Florida Cabinet
Seat	Tallahassee, Florida
Appointer	Popular vote
Term length	Four years, renewable once
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Florida
Inaugural holder	Joseph Branch
Formation	1845
Succession	Second
Website	Official website

The office is one of Florida's three elected state cabinet posts, along with the chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner. The office is held by James Uthmeier, who was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis following the resignation of Ashley Moody to become a United States senator. ^[1]

Qualifications and term of office

Article IV, Section 4, of the Constitution of Florida establishes the cabinet and the position of the attorney general. As with other elected statewide offices in Florida, the attorney general is limited to serving two consecutive four-year terms.^[2] The attorney general must meet the following qualifications to be eligible for the office:

• A registered elector;
• Not be less than 30 years old;
• Have resided in the state for the preceding 7 years; and
• Have been a member of the Florida Bar for 5 years.

The attorney general is second (behind the lieutenant governor) in the line of succession to the office of Governor of Florida.^[3][4]

Removal from office

The Florida attorney general can be impeached for committing a "misdemeanor in office" by the State House of Representatives, and then convicted and thereby removed from office by a two-thirds vote of the State Senate.^[5]

Powers and duties

Title IV, Chapter 16 of the Florida statutes establish the general duties of the office. The general duties of the attorney general are as follows:^[6]

• Issue official opinions on any question of law when requested in writing by a state officers or legislator;
• Appear on behalf of the state in any civil suit or criminal prosecution, and in the Supreme Court of Florida and its appellate courts;
• Act as co-counsel of record in capital collateral proceedings;
• Other duties incident or usual to the office; and
• Request the opinion of the justices of the supreme court as to the validity of any initiative petition circulated pursuant to Section 3 of Article XI of the Florida constitution.

The Florida solicitor general is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the attorney general. The current solicitor is Henry C. Whitaker.^[7]

List of Florida attorneys general

Attorneys general by party affiliation

Party		Attorneys general
Democratic		27
Republican		11
Whig		1

#	Image	Name	Term of service	Political party
1		Joseph Branch	1845–1846	Democratic
2		Augustus Maxwell	1846–1848	Democratic
3		James T. Archer	1848	Democratic
4		David P. Hogue	1848–1853	Whig
5		Mariano D. Papy	1853–1861	Democratic
6		John B. Galbraith	1861–1868	Democratic
7		James Westcott III	1868	Democratic
8		A. R. Meek	1868–1870	Republican
9		Sherman Conant	1870–1871	Republican
10		J. B. C. Drew	1871–1872	Republican
11		Horatio Bisbee Jr.	1872	Republican
12		J. P. C. Emmons	1872–1873	Republican
13		William A. Cocke	1873–1877	Democratic
14		George P. Raney	1877–1885	Democratic
15		Charles Merian Cooper	1885–1889	Democratic
16		William Bailey Lamar	1889–1903	Democratic
17		James B. Whitfield	1903–1904	Democratic
18		W. H. Ellis	1904–1909	Democratic
19		Park Trammell	1909–1913	Democratic
20		Thomas F. West	1913–1917	Democratic
21		Van C. Swearingen	1917–1921	Democratic
22		Rivers Buford	1921–1925	Democratic
23		J. B. Johnson	1925–1927	Democratic
24		Fred Henry Davis	1927–1931	Democratic
25		Cary D. Landis	1931–1938	Democratic
26		George Couper Gibbs	1938–1941	Democratic
27		J. Thomas Watson	1941–1949	Democratic
28		Richard Ervin	1949–1964	Democratic
29		James W. Kynes	1964–1965	Democratic
30		Earl Faircloth	1965–1971	Democratic
31		Robert L. Shevin	1971–1979	Democratic
32		James C. Smith	1979–1987	Democratic
33		Bob Butterworth	1987–2002	Democratic
34		Richard E. Doran	2002–2003	Republican
35		Charlie Crist	2003–2007	Republican
36		Bill McCollum	2007–2011	Republican
37		Pam Bondi	2011–2019	Republican
38		Ashley Moody	2019–2025	Republican
--		John M. Guard Acting	2025	Republican
39		James Uthmeier	2025–present	Republican

See also

• Constitution of Florida
• Florida Cabinet
• Florida Democratic Party
• Republican Party of Florida