criminal justice issues." In the end, Thurston won in a landslide with 84% of the vote to secure his final term in the House. During the 2012-2014 term, Thurston served as Minority Leader of the Florida House of Representatives. In that capacity, he played a critical role in the controversy over the proposed Medicaid expansion as provided for by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, joining to support Governor Rick Scott's proposal to take "more than $50 billion from the federal government over the next decade," which would allow "an estimated 1.1 million low-income Floridians to purchase private insurance." Owing to the refusal by Republicans to consider the proposal, Thurston engaged in a series of legislative maneuvers to slow down the session, "relying on a parliamentary tactic that requires a full reading of all House bills ready for floor votes," which caused Will Weatherford, the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives to use an automated bill reader named "Mary" to speed-read through the bills. When the legislative session drew to a close without a decision on the Medicaid expansion, Democrats, including Thurston, joined forces to urge Governor Scott to call a special session to resolve the issue. However, despite the battle over health care, he did not engage in a protracted fight over the budget, declaring, "There will be some [Democrats] who will be voting for the budget, and they'll have legitimate reasons to vote for it, which I think are legitimate reasons." 2014 Attorney General campaign In late 2012, Thurston confirmed that he was considering running against Republican Attorney General of Florida Pam Bondi in 2014, and at the annual convention of the Florida Democratic Party in October 2013, he announced that he was running, declaring, "I will be a candidate for attorney general in November 2014. I look at the attorney general's position as the people's attorney, and I think that we need, Florida can do better. I think we need an attorney general who's going to focus on health care needs of Florida citizens, not necessarily some national agenda." Thurston, however, is also a candidate for the Florida Senate in 2016, when State Senator Chris Smith is term-limited. When asked about how his Senate candidacy impacts his Attorney General campaign, he said, "I will not be running for the Senate once I win this election in 2014," but, when asked about whether he would run