(Black PR Wire) Leon W. Russell, NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman, Adora Obi Nweze, NAACP Florida State Conference President, and Yvette Lewis, Hillsborough County Branch President, released this joint statement following Florida State Attorney Andrew Warren's suspension by Governor Ron De Santis:

"The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is vehemently opposed to State Attorney Andrew Warren's unprecedented and unjustified suspension. This action is a slap in the face to Hillsborough County residents. We live in a representative democracy in which citizens vote on who their Constitutional Officers will be. Hillsborough County residents elected State Attorney Warren, and it is their right and duty to hold him accountable for his performance as state attorney during the next election. It is not the right or responsibility of an authoritarian, dictatorial governor to remove any public official from office simply because they disagree with their stance on any public policy or position.

"Governor De Santis is clearly playing politics. State Attorney Warren is being suspended because he opposes the Governor's demagogic stances on gender bias and abortion. While Warren has spoken out against these issues, he has never decided on either of the draconian laws recently passed by the Florida legislature. It's evident that the Governor's actions have been motivated by a desire to score political points with his base, rather than any concern for Warren's performance in office.

"Any reasonable group of Floridians cannot and should not support the governor's action. Those who supported the Governor when he announced the suspension must ask themselves who will support them when this Governor, or the next, decides to disagree with their political statements or opinions. De Santis must remember that he is on the ballot this November and that our memories aren't that short.

"This heinous action will not be tolerated. Every rational Floridian must inform the Florida Senate that this action cannot be sustained.

"We urge the Florida state senators to vote against the governor's ruse. Allow Andrew Warren to do the job for which Hillsborough County voters elected him. America is still a democracy, and it is not a would-be autocrat's right. The voters will decide. That is our legal right." 

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