(The Center Square) – When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis selected state Attorney General Ashley Moody as his pick for a soon-to-be vacant U.S. Senate seat on Thursday, her first message was instructive.
“I’m ready to show up and fight for this nation and fight for President Trump to deliver the American first agenda on day one,” Moody said at a Thursday news conference.
Her record as attorney general shows she’ll likely be a strong advocate of President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda, especially when it comes to immigration and crime.
DeSantis said his criteria for an appointee was strength on the issues of immigration and federal overreach and that his key ally and long-time friend was the ideal choice.
“I want somebody that’s going to work with President Trump to deliver on the mandate he was he earned from the American people,” DeSantis said. “Want a senator that’s going to be willing to lean in against the excessive spending and cut spending and stop the inflation. I want somebody that understands that the federal bureaucracy is run amok and it must be held to account.
“We need somebody that understands the fight against illegal immigration is willing to shut the border and and importantly, make sure any legal immigration of this country is putting Americans first.”
Moody was the youngest circuit judge in Florida history in Hillsborough County at age 31 in 2006 and before that, she served as an assistant U.S. Attorney primarily drug, firearm and fraud cases.
Moody sued the Biden administration over border issues numerous times, filing lawsuits over the Department of Homeland Security’s refusal to provide citizenship data to Florida election officials and their release of migrants into the U.S.
She also called on Congress to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The Plant City native and second-term attorney general also joined a lawsuit over Harvard University’s admission policies in regards to race and filed a legal action to prevent transition surgeries for minors.
She also filed a lawsuit over delays in approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the state’s prescription drug program.
“The only way to return this country to the people, the people to the government, is to make sure we have a strong Congress doing its job passing laws and actually approving the regulations that the prime elected bureaucrats are trying to cram down on the American people,” Moody said.
Moody will be replaced by DeSantis’ chief of staff, James Uthmeier. She’ll take the oath of office on Inauguration Day on Monday after U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., assumes the role of Trump’s secretary of state.