Things to know about Ashley Moody, appointed to be Florida's next U.S. senator

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to be the state's next U.S. senator.

The announcement comes after President-elect Donald Trump nominated U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida's senior senator since 2010, to be secretary of state.

Five things to know about the Republican attorney general, who has served as the state's top law enforcement officer since 2019:

Law enforcement runs in her family

Moody has spent her career in the justice system, working as a federal prosecutor before being elected at age 31 to the post of circuit judge in Hillsborough County, home to Tampa. She ran for the statewide office of attorney general in 2018, the same year DeSantis won his first bid as governor.

Moody comes from a well-known Tampa Bay family and followed in the footsteps of her father, U.S. District Judge James Moody.

Serving in the Florida Cabinet, Moody has repeatedly advocated for law enforcement. Her husband, Justin Duralia, became a deputy police chief in Plant City in July. Previously, he worked at the Drug Enforcement Administration for 24 years, most recently as a supervisory special agent. Together, they have two sons, Brandon and Connor.

She has a record of coming to Trump's defense

Moody has earned a reputation as a defender of the president-elect, notably when she joined 16 other Republican state attorneys general in signing on to a lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.

“The integrity and resolution of the 2020 election is of paramount importance,” Moody wrote in a statement at the time.

In December, Moody’s office obtained an arrest warrant for Ryan Wesley Routh, whom federal authorities accuse of trying to assassinate Trump at his West Palm Beach country club in September.

Moody is pursuing criminal charges of attempted felony murder against Routh for a crash that seriously injured a 6-year-old girl after officials shut down traffic on Interstate 95 as they tried to apprehend the suspect.

She would be Florida's second female senator

Moody is poised to become just the second woman to represent the state in the U.S. Senate, and the first in nearly 40 years; Republican Paula Hawkins served in the chamber from 1981-1987.

In her first statements after DeSantis announced her appointment Thursday, Moody said her experiences as a woman would shape her work in the Senate.

“First and foremost, I am driven by the fact that I am a mother — and I still have a kid in school,” Moody said.

To date, 63 women have served in the Senate, with 25 currently in office.

She opposed ballot measures on abortion and marijuana

Moody’s office unsuccessfully fought to disqualify two measures from appearing on the 2024 ballot: one that would have expanded abortion rights and another that would have legalized recreational marijuana in the state.

Moody accused supporters of the abortion proposal of waging a “war” to protect the procedure. And she argued that the marijuana measure's language — that it “allows adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products” — was misleading because it didn't clarify that marijuana possession is illegal under federal law.

In April 2024, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Moody's arguments and allowed the marijuana and abortion measures to go before voters. While a majority of Floridians voted to pass the initiatives, both failed to meet the state’s required 60% threshold to amend the constitution.

She's a kind of Florida royalty

Moody, who is a fifth generation Florida native from Plant City, was named the queen of the Florida Strawberry Festival in 1993. Plant City has hosted the famed celebration of the state's strawberry industry for nearly a century.

Moody can claim another kind of Florida pedigree as well: She's a triple Gator, earning a bachelor's, a master's and a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida.

__

Payne reported from Tallahassee, Florida. Associated Press writer Curt Anderson in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report. Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.