Ron DeSantis picks Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to fill Marco Rubio’s Senate seat

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed 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 nominated to be secretary of state.

Rubio was selected to serve in Trump’s administration shortly after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, giving DeSantis a Senate appointment that is likely to have ripple effects across Florida government and politics.

It has been widely expected in recent weeks that Moody would be the choice, while others, including Reps. Kat Cammack and Cory Mills, spoke with DeSantis about the position. DeSantis had publicly said he had reservations about appointing a member of the House because of the GOP’s slim majority in that chamber.

State Sen. Jay Collins, who served as a Green Beret, also received significant support from conservatives who wanted DeSantis to pick a military veteran.

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 must run in a special election in 2026 to keep the seat for the final two years of Rubio’s term. Mills has already said he will run for the Senate in 2026, as the first reported by Politico, and Cammack is considering a run, meaning Moody will face Republican primary challengers.

Right now, though, her appointment would set a new record for Republican women in the Senate, according to data from the Center for American Women in Politics. When Moody takes the seat, there will be 10 GOP women in the chamber.

Moody is a close ally of DeSantis, having served as his main legal bulldog in a series of high-profile political battles with the Biden administration.

Most recently, Moody’s office, which is technically separate from the governor’s office, filed a lawsuit in October against the Justice Department over what she claimed was a federal government effort to block Florida’s own investigation into the second assassination attempt against Trump, which happened in September at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

“Every day Florida is prevented from investigating, the state’s case becomes more difficult to prove at trial,” Moody argued in the suit. “In contrast, the federal government suffers no harm from Florida investigating state law crimes, as the state does not intend to interfere with or obstruct the federal investigation.”

DeSantis has said he believes the federal government had “stonewalled” Florida’s ability to conduct its own investigation.

Moody said the state’s independent investigation was necessary, in part, because the DOJ should not have been investigating an assassination attempt on Trump while simultaneously trying to prosecute him. Since Trump’s election victory in November, former special counsel Jack Smith, who led federal cases against Trump over whether he tried to overturn the 2020 election and over alleged mishandling of classified documents, has withdrawn and those cases against Trump have been closed.

In December, Moody also released an arrest warrant for Ryan Routh, the alleged 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 assassination attempt.

Earlier this year, the attorney general also sued the Biden administration to try to block a rule Moody argued would have forced doctors to provide gender transition care against their discretion. Transgender issues have been one of the main culture war battles DeSantis has focused on as governor.

DeSantis had not publicly signaled who he would pick to fill Rubio’s seat, but has said the person will be hard-line on immigration policy, including pushing reforms to the so-called H-1B visa program, which has been the subject of intense internal fighting since the election among Trump’s own supporters.

Trump supporters such as billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk have said the program offers cheaper international talent to many companies, while the populist wing of the MAGA movement, led by the likes of conservative pundits Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer, have said the program should be abolished.

Trump said in late December that he thinks the program is “fantastic.”

Moody’s election is also likely to change DeSantis’ own political orbit.

It is widely believed that DeSantis’ longtime chief of staff, James Uthmeier, will now be named to fill Moody’s post, requiring DeSantis to choose a new top staffer. Uthmeier served as campaign manager for DeSantis’ failed 2024 presidential bid and is considered one of his closest confidants.