Florida Lawyer Normal Ashley Moody will take Marco Rubio ’s seat within the U.S. Senate, Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced Thursday, making Moody solely the second girl to symbolize Florida within the chamber.
Elected because the state’s high legislation enforcement officer in 2018, Moody campaigned on a pledge to voters that she’d be a prosecutor, not a politician. Together with DeSantis, Moody boosted her political profile throughout the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling on the federal authorities to “hold China responsible” for the outbreak.
Earlier than working for statewide workplace, Moody labored as a federal prosecutor. In 2006, she was elected to the publish of circuit choose in Hillsborough County, house to Tampa.
Because the state’s legal professional basic, Moody has been instrumental in defending DeSantis’ conservative agenda in court docket and has joined different Republican-led states in difficult the Biden administration’s insurance policies, suing over modifications to immigration enforcement, scholar mortgage forgiveness and vaccine mandates for federal contractors.
“I’m happy to say we’ve had an Attorney General that is somebody that has acted time and time again to support the values that we all share,” DeSantis stated at a information convention at an Orlando lodge.
Underneath Florida legislation, it’s as much as the Republican governor to choose Rubio’s substitute, after President-elect Donald Trump picked the three-term senator to be his subsequent secretary of state. Moody will serve within the Senate till the following basic election in 2026, when the seat will probably be again on the poll.
Moody fought unsuccessfully to maintain an abortion rights measure off the poll in Florida in 2024, saying proponents had been waging “a war” to guard the process. The measure did go earlier than voters however in the end didn’t get the 60% approval wanted to go.
She was additionally among the many state attorneys basic to signal on to the lawsuit backed by Trump aimed toward overturning Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020.
Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters, a key Trump ally within the state, was amongst those that had pushed the president-elect’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump as their high choose for the Senate seat. Lara Trump eliminated herself from consideration in December.
Nonetheless, Gruters praised Moody, calling her “a winner here in Florida.”
“She’s very popular. And I think people see the job that she does and they appreciate her work and her effort at trying to … keep Florida safe,” Gruters stated forward of the announcement.
Moody’s appointment opens up a key emptiness in Florida’s Cupboard, giving DeSantis one other shot at increasing his affect within the state. DeSantis may even get to choose a substitute for outgoing Chief Monetary Officer Jimmy Patronis, who’s leaving his publish to run for former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s open seat in Congress.
