- State
- Florida
- Office / race
- U.S. Senate
- Party
- Republican
- Reviewed
- October 24, 2026
Career timeline
Appointment first, election next
Ashley Moody became a U.S. senator in January 2025 after Governor Ron DeSantis appointed her to fill the vacancy created by Marco Rubio’s resignation. Florida’s election record lists her as a qualified Republican incumbent for the 2026 Senate election. The appointment and the election are distinct: the latter asks voters to decide who continues representing them.
Sources: Congressional biography — Ashley Brooke Moody ↗ · Florida Division of Elections — 2026 qualified candidate record ↗
Plant City and legal education
Moody grew up in Plant City. Her Senate biography records accounting studies and a law degree at the University of Florida, along with an advanced law degree from Stetson. The combination gave her training in finance and law before her work in litigation, prosecution and the judiciary. Those credentials preceded her entry into statewide electoral politics.
A career in the courtroom
She began in commercial litigation at Holland & Knight, later worked as a federal prosecutor and became a Hillsborough County circuit judge. The congressional biography dates her prosecutorial service to 2004–2006 and her judicial tenure to 2007–2017. The record traces a progression from representing clients and prosecuting cases to presiding over a court.
Florida attorney general
Moody served as Florida attorney general from 2019 until her move to the Senate in 2025. Her campaign emphasizes public safety, law enforcement and challenges to federal policies during that period. Those themes are her campaign’s presentation of the record. They should be compared with the cases and policies themselves rather than treated as an independent evaluation of their effects.
Sources: Moody campaign — About Ashley ↗
What the campaign now stresses
The Senate campaign describes her as a supporter of Trump’s agenda and identifies national security, public safety and conservative policy as priorities. It also notes her service on the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. A federal legislator’s role differs from a prosecutor’s: it requires deciding what the law should be, alongside oversight of how it is enforced.
Sources: Moody campaign — About Ashley ↗
Family details she has made public
Moody’s campaign identifies her husband, Justin, as a law-enforcement officer and says they have two sons.
Sources: Moody campaign — About Ashley ↗
What voters can compare
Editorial analysis: Moody’s experience covers prosecution, judging and statewide legal administration. Her new test is a federal legislative mandate. Voters can examine how her legal background informs her positions, while also asking how she would negotiate, oversee agencies and address matters outside criminal justice. A résumé establishes experience; it does not resolve the merits of each policy.
Sources: Senator Ashley Moody — official biography ↗ · Florida Division of Elections — 2026 qualified candidate record ↗
Prepared with AI assistance. Source-based reporting checked on October 24, 2026. This article does not update automatically. Read our editorial standards.
