Gov. Ron DeSantis is sending Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody from Tallahassee to Washington, DC to fill Marco Rubio’s US Senate seat.
Rubio is in the middle of the confirmation process for the newly elected president Donald Trump secretary of state.
A 49-year-old mother of two, Moody has been the attorney general since 2019 and previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney and district court judge.
The attorney general has supported lawsuits to overturn the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, and has argued against restoring voting rights for felons and legalizing marijuana.
Her husband, Justin Duralia, serves as deputy chief of the Plant City Police Department in Hillsborough County.
As a senator, Moody promised to work to roll back regulations imposed by government agencies and reduce the federal budget.
“The only way to get this country back to the people, to the people who run it, is to make sure that we have a strong Congress that does its job, passes laws and actually approves the regulations that these unelected bureaucrats are trying to push on the American people,” she said.
Governor Ron DeSantis is sending Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody from Tallahassee to Washington, DC to fill Marco Rubio’s seat in the US Senate. (Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I’ve got the back of the American people,” Moody continued. “I am driven by many things in life. I will certainly influence many things, my life, my experiences, but I am guided by my faith in God. First and foremost. I am driven by the fact that I am a mother and I still have a child in school.. . I’m a trained accountant, so I can reduce the bloat of the federal government.”
Initially, Trump and Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., endorsed Trump’s daughter-in-law and former RNC co-chair Lara Trump to succeed Rubio. But last month, she said she withdrew her name from consideration.
Moody will have to run to retain the seat in a special election in 2026, and House Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., has already said he will run for the seat.
Moody is DeSantis’ main ally. (DeSantis 2024)
Rubio is leaving his seat in the Senate to serve as secretary of state. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
‘THANK YOU, RON’: TRUMP PRAISES DESANTIS FOR IMMIGRATION PRESSURE IN FLORIDA
Moody worked in tandem with DeSantis to push his agenda. She recently filed a lawsuit against Ministry of Justice for what she alleged was the federal government’s attempt to block Florida’s investigation into the second assassination attempt on Trump, which took place at his Mar-a-Lago golf course.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Last year, she sued the Biden administration over rules she argued would force doctors to provide gender reassignment care.
In 2024, she also submitted a request Supreme Court disqualify Florida’s ballot measure to expand access to abortion by arguing that its language could mislead voters.
