Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed state Attorney General Ashley Moody to the U.S. Senate, setting her up to fill the seat of Sen. Marco Rubio, whom President-elect Donald Trump chose to be secretary of state.
Trump selected Rubio shortly after he won the presidential election, handing DeSantis a Senate appointment that is likely to have ripple effects across Florida government and politics.
It has widely been expected in recent weeks that Moody would be the pick, while others, including Reps. Kat Cammack and Cory Mills, did talk to DeSantis about the position. DeSantis had said publicly he had reservations about appointing a member of the House because of the GOP’s slim majority there.
State Sen. Jay Collins, who served as a Green Beret, also got considerable support from conservatives who wanted DeSantis to pick a military veteran.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody at a news conference on Sept. 17 about an apparent attempt to assassinate Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla.Joe Raedle / Getty Images
But ultimately, the seat will go to Moody, 49, who easily won her first election in 2018 to become attorney general and her re-election bid in 2022. She was unable to run again because of term limits.
She will have to run in a 2026 special election to keep the seat for the final two years of Rubio’s term. Mills has already said he is running for the Senate in 2026, as first reported by Politico, and Cammack is considering a run, meaning Moody is likely going to face Republican primary challengers.
Asked about the possibility of running in 2026 at the Capitol, Mills told NBC News: “We’re keeping our eye on the seat. We’ll see how she votes and how she supports the president. I respect the governor’s decision always. I think he’s a great governor. He’s the best governor we have in America. But that’s not to say that 2026 doesn’t shape up to potentially see a primary.”
Right now, though, Moody’s appointment will set a record for Republican women in the Senate, according to data from the Center for American Women in Politics. When she takes the seat, there will be 10 GOP senators.
Moody is a close ally of DeSantis, and she has served as his chief legal bulldog in a host of high-profile political fights with the Biden administration.
Most recently, Moody’s office, which is technically separate from the governor’s office, sued the Justice Department in October over what she argued was a federal government effort to block Florida’s own investigation into the second attempt to assassinate Trump, which happened in September at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
“Every day that Florida is prevented from investigating, the State’s case becomes harder to prove at trial,” Moody argued in the suit. “By contrast, the federal government suffers no injury from Florida investigating state law crimes, as the State has no intention of interfering with or obstructing the federal investigation.”
DeSantis has said he believes the federal government “stonewalled” Florida’s ability to conduct its own investigation.
Moody said the state’s independent investigation was needed, in part, because the Justice Department should not have been investigating an attempted assassination on Trump while simultaneously trying to prosecute him. Since Trump won the election in November, special counsel Jack Smith, who was leading federal cases against Trump over whether he tried to overturn the 2020 election and over allegations he mishandled classified documents, has resigned, and those cases against Trump have ended.
In December, Moody also released an arrest affidavit for Ryan Routh, who is accused of being the gunmen behind the second assassination attempt. She said a traffic backup that resulted from searching for Routh led to an accident that injured a 6-year-old girl. Routh is in federal custody and faces five charges related to the attempted assassination.
Moody also sued the Biden administration to try and block a rule Moody argued would have forced doctors to provide gender transition care against their judgment. Transgender issues have been one of the main culture war fights DeSantis has focused on as governor.
DeSantis had not signaled publicly whom he would pick to fill Rubio’s seat, but he has said the person will be a hard-liner on immigration, including pushing reforms to the so-called H-1B visa program, which has been the subject of intense internal postelection fights among Trump’s own supporters.
Trump backers like billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk have said the program offers lower-cost international talent for many companies, while the populist wing of the MAGA movement, led by people like conservative pundits Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer, have said it should be abolished.
Trump said in late December that he believes the program is “great.”
Moody’s pick is also likely to reshuffle DeSantis’ own political orbit.
It is widely believed that longtime DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier will be appointed to fill Moody’s post, requiring DeSantis to select a new top staffer. Uthmeier, who was the campaign manager for DeSantis’ failed 2024 presidential bid, is considered one of his closest confidants.
CORRECTION (Jan. 16, 2025, 8:10 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody sued the Biden administration over gender transition care. She filed the suit in May, not earlier this year.
Kyle Stewart contributed.
