Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has picked state Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) to become the state’s next senator, replacing outgoing Sen. Marco Rubio (R).
Rubio is vacating his seat due to being nominated by president-elect Donald Trump to serve as secretary of state in the next administration. It’s believed that Rubio will likely be confirmed by the Senate to fill that role. DeSantis’s selection of Moody is unsurprising, as she is deeply loyal to both the governor and the president-elect.
On his X account, DeSantis said that he chose the state attorney general to become the next senator for her “unapologetic” conservative views — including her readiness “to deliver on President Trump’s agenda.”
The appointment will be immediate once Rubio is officially out of office. Moody will have to run in a special election in 2026 to keep the seat through the remainder of Rubio’s full term, presuming she wants to continue in the role beyond that point.
Moody has used her office to try to deny multiple groups their democratic rights, including the right to vote, the right to petition their governments, and the right to free speech and access to information.
For example, before the 2020 election, Moody started an investigation into Michael Bloomberg over his efforts to raise millions of dollars to help enfranchise people formerly convicted of felony level crimes. Under state law, these individuals are eligible to vote again once their sentence is complete, but at the time, Republican government officials sought to block residents from doing so, arguing that they couldn’t legally vote until they paid court fees. The funds raised by Bloomberg sought to rectify this problem.
Moody’s inquiry into that effort was viewed by critics as an effort to dissuade eligible voters from taking actions that would have enfranchised them, with some calling it an “abuse of power” and a “fearmongering tactic.”
During the 2024 campaign season, Moody also sought to block an abortion rights ballot initiative that aimed to enshrine the reproductive right in the state constitution. Moody dubiously claimed to the state Supreme Court that the measure’s language was too broad for voters to understand its implications, an argument she eventually lost, which allowed the measure to be considered.
Moody also tried to restrict access to texts in school libraries that featured themes of race and/or LGBTQ issues, a move that critics described as an effort to censor authors’ works and prevent students from accessing titles affirming their identities. Moody argued that such books shouldn’t be allowed by claiming “public school libraries are a forum for government, not private speech.”
Journalist Jose Pagliery posted a number of other troubling actions Moody has taken as attorney general, including attempting to block local mask mandates in Florida during the pandemic and baselessly claiming that FEMA discriminated against people who supported Trump for president. More recently, Moody is attempting to sue Starbucks, on behalf of the state, asserting that the company is violating state law by promoting an inclusive and diverse work environment — a claim that state investigators have already noted there is “no reasonable cause” to pursue.
Moody also promoted false election fraud claims in 2020, joining a number of other Republican-controlled states in filing a legal challenge to the Supreme Court to President Joe Biden’s win over Trump in that year’s presidential race — an effort to help Trump remain in the White House that ultimately failed.
Reacting to DeSantis’s announcement, Florida Democratic party chair Nikki Fried opined that Moody would use her position as a U.S. senator to promote the governor’s (and Trump’s) agenda at the federal level.
“Despite her role as an independent constitutional officer, [Moody] has insisted on calling [DeSantis] ‘boss’ and defended his extreme agenda at every turn,” Fried said. “Her reward is a seat in the United States Senate, paid for by her loyalty to Ron and her failure to serve Floridians. … As a Senator, Ashley will no doubt take her marching orders exclusively from Donald Trump with no regard for what’s best for the people of Florida.”
Nico Delgado, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic-leaning political action committee, also criticized DeSantis’s pick.
“By appointing Ashley Moody to the Senate, DeSantis is giving Floridians more of the same extremist MAGA leadership,” Delgado said. “Moody’s disturbing track record of election denial, combined with [her] history of trying to restrict abortion rights, make her just as toxic as Marco Rubio and a terrible choice for Florida.”
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