Ashley Moody

Ashley Brooke Moody (born March 28, 1975) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from Florida. A member of the Republican Party, she served from 2019 to 2025 as the 38th Florida attorney general, from 2007 to 2017 as a circuit court judge in Hillsborough County, and as an assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida before entering electoral politics.

As Florida attorney general, Moody supported lawsuits to invalidate the Affordable Care Act and opposed the legalization of recreational marijuana. She supported then-President Donald Trump in Florida during the 2020 presidential election, and joined in the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit, which sought to overturn the results of the election.

In January 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Moody to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Marco Rubio, who became United States Secretary of State. On January 21, 2025, she was sworn in by Vice President JD Vance, becoming Florida's second female senator, after Paula Hawkins.

Moody's appointment expires in January 2027; to remain in the Senate, she must win a special election in November 2026.

Moody was born in Plant City, Florida, on March 28, 1975. She is the oldest of three children born to Carol and Judge James S. Moody Jr.

Moody graduated from Plant City High School in 1993. She received a bachelor's degree and master's degree in accounting from University of Florida. While attending the University of Florida, she served as president of Florida Blue Key. Moody earned a Master of Laws in international law from Stetson University College of Law, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Florida School of Law.

Moody interned for Martha Barnett, the president of the American Bar Association, and later joined the law firm Holland & Knight, working in civil litigation.

In January 1998, Moody switched her party affiliation from Democratic to Republican. Upon his election, Florida governor Jeb Bush appointed her to be the student representative on the Board of Regents, a now-defunct body that ran the state's university system.