2026 Florida election: Who is Ashley Moody? Republican and ex-attorney general defeats democratic socialist Angie Nixon to retain Senate seat

Republican Ashley Moody successfully fought a challenge from Angie Nixon, a democratic socialist, to win Florida’s special election and retain her seat in the Senate. This marks the first electoral victory for Moody, who was appointed by Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis in January last year, when Marco Rubio became the secretary of state. Moody, aged 51, will now serve the remainder of his term until the 2028 election.

The contest was considered a test of whether Florida remained a reliably Republican state, after the party gained a 1.5 million-voter advantage in terms of registrations, or whether Democrats could make a comeback after being shut out in statewide races for a decade.

Ashley Moody's Senate campaign

During her campaign speeches, Moody denounced Nixon, 42, as a "socialist", portraying her alignment with the Democratic Socialists of America as proof that she wanted to defund the police and the US military, abolish prisons, and support unchecked immigration and noncitizen voting.

Moody also lauded Trump's immigration policies, but refrained from praising the president personally amid his record low approval ratings and high gas prices.

Nixon had campaigned on affordability and corruption in politics, referring to Moody’s role as Florida’s attorney general in the so-called Hope Florida scandal, in which DeSantis’ administration diverted a $10m Medicaid payout to political committees.

"I don’t want to abolish prisons, because I want Ashley Moody in one of them," she had said in an interview that later went viral. Moody has denied any wrongdoing, and no charges were brought after a state prosecutor impaneled a grand jury to review the case.

Moody celebrates win

Moody had won two statewide elections for attorney general, before entering the ballot for the first time in Tuesday's midterm elections.

"Throughout this campaign, I said that this election would come down to freedom versus socialism," Moody told about 100 supporters at her election party in downtown Tampa. "Well, Florida chose freedom," the Republican added.