DeSantis nominates Florida Attorney General Moody to replace Rubio in the Senate

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis has selected Attorney General Ashley Moody to be Florida’s next senator to serve the next two years of Sen. Marco Rubio’s term.

At a news conference in Orlando, DeSantis said Moody has a “proven track record of getting results” on immigration and fighting President Joe Biden.

“As Attorney General, Ashley Moody has had no blemish on immigration,” DeSantis said. “She will go up there and be part of the Executive Caucus, not the Pardon Caucus.”

Rubio was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be secretary of state, leaving the selection of his successor to DeSantis. Moody will serve until 2026, when his seat is up for election.

Mr. DeSantis said he would replace Mr. Moody with chief of staff and former campaign manager James Usmayer.

“He has proven himself in these fights,” he said. “I think he’s going to have a big challenge, but I think he’ll do a good job of it. So you can expect that.”

Moody’s name has been floated for months as a possible candidate for Mr. DeSantis, although some have urged him to choose Lara Trump to replace Mr. Rubio. Lara Trump, who previously co-chaired the Republican National Committee, said last month that she was withdrawing it from consideration.

Moody thanked DeSantis for his appointment and vowed to “fight for President Trump.”

“I won’t let you down,” Moody told DeSantis. “I will not let down Floridians and I will not let my country down.”

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, who was friends with Moody while attending the University of Florida, called him DeSantis’ “dog.”

“As Attorney General, Mr. Ashley ignored the growing property and casualty insurance crisis and allowed wealthy corporations to defraud Floridians of their money,” Fried said in a statement. “Instead, she spent her time chasing political attention and gaining support from the far right.”

Mr. Moody, 49, said Thursday that he has been an ardent supporter of Mr. DeSantis’ policies since he was elected attorney general in 2018.

“She was with us every step of the way,” he said.

While it is the attorney general’s job to defend the laws passed by the Legislature and the governor, Moody has gone a step further, repeatedly inserting his office into debates over gender care, federal immigration enforcement and the pandemic. Since 2023, she has sued President Joe Biden’s administration at least nine times, including to block a federal rule requiring background checks at gun shows and to block accrediting agencies’ influence over universities. It is.

Some of these lawsuits have been successful, including in 2021 when Moody and DeSantis succeeded in blocking federal pandemic safety rules for cruise lines operating in Florida. In 2023, Moody’s office was also able to temporarily block the federal government’s ability to release some immigrants into the country pending legal proceedings.

Other incidents were criticized as publicity stunts. Last month, Mr. Moody obtained a warrant for his arrest on charges of attempting to assassinate Mr. Trump, defying federal prosecutors who had already charged him with the attempted assassination.

In 2020, she asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Texas’ attempt to overturn the presidential election results. One of her lawyers called the legal reasoning “absolutely insane.”

Moody saw her profile rise with more appearances on Fox News and other right-wing news organizations.

Moody is a prosecutor who was elected to the Hillsborough Circuit Court in 2006, making him the youngest judge in Florida. Her father was a federal judge and her mother worked for Bay Area Legal Services for many years.

In the 2018 Republican primary, her Republican opponents accused her of being a “liberal.” Democrats accused her of copying her predecessor and friend, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who frequently appeared on her Fox show. (Mr. Moody sent out a news release from his office last month urging senators to confirm Mr. Bondy as U.S. attorney general.)

After his election, Moody pledged to keep politics out of the attorney general’s office and to be a strong consumer advocate, one of the attorney general’s primary roles. At the beginning of her term, she fought with Republicans in Congress for data that would make it easier to sue opioid manufacturers.

Consumer advocates had high hopes, but aside from going after opioid manufacturers and distributors, Moody took a soft stance on companies.

“She hasn’t done anything,” said Lynn Drysdale, a senior trial attorney with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and a longtime consumer advocate.

Drysdale said Moody’s office has talented lawyers, but its leaders are doing nothing to protect Floridians from predatory mortgages and reverse mortgages. Reverse mortgages led to a spike in foreclosure filings, including a 92-year-old Jacksonville woman who owed 27 cents.

Mr. Moody also did not join other state attorneys general in suing RealPage, a software company accused of fixing and inflating rents across the country.

Bondi, on the other hand, was a much more ardent consumer advocate, Drysdale said.

“This comparison is like night and day,” she said.

Mr. DeSantis will replace Mr. Rubio with Representatives Kat Cammack (R-Gainesville) and Cory Mills (R-New Smyrna Beach), as well as Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd and State Senator Jay Collins. (R-Tampa) also said he was considering it.

DeSantis said Moody’s performance prevailed.

“She has never let us down,” he said. “That’s important to me.”

Times/Herald staff writer Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.