Ashley Moody

Ashley Brooke Moody (born March 28, 1975) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Florida attorney general since January 2019.

Ashley Moody
38th Attorney General of Florida
Assumed office
January 8, 2019
GovernorRon DeSantis
Preceded byPam Bondi
Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida[1]
In office
January 2, 2007[2] – April 28, 2017
Succeeded byJennifer Gabbard[3]
Personal details
Born (1975-03-28) March 28, 1975
Plant City, Florida, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (1993–1998)
Republican (1998–present)
Spouse(s)Justin Duralia
Children2
EducationUniversity of Florida (BS, MS, JD)
Stetson University (LLM)
OccupationAttorney

Early life and education

Moody was born in Plant City, Florida, on March 28, 1975.[4] She is the oldest of three children born to Carol and Judge James S. Moody Jr.[5]

Moody graduated from Plant City High School in 1993.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]

Moody interned for Martha Barnett, the president of the American Bar Association,[5] and later joined the law firm Holland & Knight, working in civil litigation.[9]

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.[4]

Political career

Moody was appointed an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida.[10] In 2006, Moody was elected to the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, which consisted of Hillsborough County. At age 31, she became the youngest judge elected in Florida.[11]

Official portrait as 13th Judicial Circuit Court judge

Attorney General of Florida

Moody resigned on April 28, 2017, in order to run for Attorney General of Florida in the 2018 elections.[11][12] She won the Republican Party primary, defeating state representative Frank White, who attacked Moody for originally registering as a Democrat.[13][14] In the general election, Moody faced state representative Sean Shaw. Moody defeated Shaw, receiving 52% of the vote to Shaw's 46%.[15]

Michael Flynn

In May 2020, Moody urged the federal government to drop its case against Trump associate Michael Flynn who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.[16]

Marijuana

She opposes the legalization of recreational marijuana.[17]

Voting rights

Moody opposes the restoration of voting rights for former felons.[18] Following the passing of Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative in 2018, Moody, along with Governor Ron DeSantis, helped push a bill through the Florida Senate that would only restore voting rights to eligible felons once the felon has paid all of their court fees. In September 2020, after billionaire Michael Bloomberg raised $16 million to pay 32,000 felons' court fees, which would make them eligible to vote in the 2020 elections, Moody asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate Bloomberg, claiming he potentially violated election laws.[19]

2020 presidential election

During the 2020 presidential election, Politico described Moody as "one of Donald Trump's biggest surrogates" in Florida.[7] After Joe Biden won the election and Trump refused to concede, Moody took a leading role in aiding Trump's attempts to overturn the election.[16]

On December 9, 2020, Moody and 15 other state attorneys general announced their support for a lawsuit by Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General, asking the Supreme Court of the United States to invalidate the presidential election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which were all won by Biden.[20] There was no evidence of large-scale fraud in the election,[21][22] and the court decided 7-2 not to hear the Texas lawsuit.[23][24]

Moody was on the board of directors for the Rule of Law Defense Fund. In January 2021, the organization helped instigate the storming of the United States Capitol by calling on Trump supporters to march to the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 to disrupt the counting of the Electoral College ballots, which they believed to be fraudulent. After a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, Moody removed any references to the Rule of Law Defense Fund from her online biography.[16]

Personal life

Moody is married to Justin Duralia, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent. They have two sons together.[25] Their eldest son is serving in the United States Army.

Election history
2006 Thirteenth Judicial Court of Florida election, Non-partisan primary[26]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Ashley Moody 41,522 39.08% N/A
Democratic Gary Dolgin 33,675 31.70% N/A
Independent Pat Courtney 31,042 29.22% N/A
Majority 7,847 7.38% N/A
Turnout 106,239
2006 Thirteenth Judicial Court of Florida election, General election[27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Ashley Moody 142,610 60.31% N/A
Democratic Gary Dolgin 93,854 39.69% N/A
Majority 48,756 20.62% N/A
Turnout 236,464
2018 Florida Attorney General election, Republican primary[28]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Ashley Moody 882,028 56.80% N/A
Republican Frank White 670,823 43.20% N/A
Majority 211,205 13.60% N/A
Turnout 1,552,851
2018 Florida Attorney General election, General election[29]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Ashley Moody 4,232,532 52.11% -2.96%
Democratic Sean Shaw 3,744,912 46.10% +4.09%
Independent Jeffrey Marc Siskind 145,296 1.79% N/A
Majority 487,620 6.01% -7.07%
Turnout 8,122,740
Republican hold

References
  1. Ashley B. Moody Profile
  2. https://ballotpedia.org/Ashley_B._Moody
  3. https://floridacountyjudges.com/2017/08/13/governor-scott-appoints-judge-jennifer-x-gabbard-to-the-thirteenth-judicial-circuit-court/
  4. March, William. "Family tradition drives Ashley Moody in attorney general's race". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  5. March, William (October 12, 2018). "Ashley Moody hopes to succeed Pam Bondi as attorney general". Miami Herald. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  6. "Campus notes". The Tampa Tribune. June 19, 1999. p. 6. Retrieved March 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. Fineout, Gary. "Florida's top prosecutor once sued Trump. Now she's fighting for his reelection". POLITICO. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  8. "Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Administrative Office of the Courts > Judicial Directory > Ashley B. Moody > Profile". web.archive.org. July 11, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  9. John Henderson (July 6, 2018). "A conversation with AG candidate Ashley Moody - News - Panama City News Herald - Panama City, FL". Newsherald.com. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  10. HENDERSON, JOHN. "A conversation with AG candidate Ashley Moody". Panama City News Herald. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  11. "Carlton: Judge abruptly quits — and is something big to come?". Tampa Bay Times. April 5, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  12. "Former Hillsborough Judge Ashley Moody files to run for Florida Attorney General". Tampa Bay Times. June 2, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  13. "Former Hillsborough judge Ashley Moody wins Republican nomination in attorney general race". 10NEWS. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  14. "GOP candidate for Florida AG wasn't a "lifelong Democrat"". @politifact. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  15. "Ashley Moody elected Florida's attorney general". www.wctv.tv. Associated Press. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  16. "Florida's Ashley Moody worked with group linked to Capitol insurrection". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  17. Saunders, Jim. "Legalize marijuana supporters fire back at Florida AG Ashley Moody's objections". sun-sentinel.com. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  18. Knowles, Summer (November 1, 2018). "Amendment 4: Restores felons' rights". WESH. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  19. Moreno, Edward (September 23, 2020). "Florida attorney general scrutinizing Bloomberg paying fines for felons to vote". thehill. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  20. Man, Anthony. "Florida joins Texas in seeking to overturn election results, in support of President Trump". sun-sentinel.com. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  21. Pazniokas, Mark (December 13, 2020). "Voter fraud is real, just not on the scale claimed by Trump". The Connecticut Mirror.
  22. "News Wrap: AG Barr says no evidence of large-scale election fraud". PBS. December 1, 2020.
  23. Ogles, Jacob (December 9, 2020). "Ashley Moody files brief supporting Texas suit seeking to invalidate election results". Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  24. Matthews, Chris (December 11, 2020). "Supreme Court declines to hear Texas case, ending Trump's effort to overturn election". MarketWatch. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  25. "Florida Attorney General - Attorney General Ashley Moody Bio". www.myfloridalegal.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  26. "Hillsborough County 2006 Primary Election" (PDF). Vote Hillsborough. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  27. "Hillsborough County 2006 General Election" (PDF). Vote Hillsborough. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  28. "August 28, 2018 Primary Election Republican Primary". Florida Department of State. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  29. "November 6, 2018 General Election". Florida Department of State. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
Legal offices
Preceded by
Pam Bondi		 Attorney General of Florida
2019–present		 Incumbent
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