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ORLANDO, Fla. — Ashley Moody, who was serving as Florida’s attorney general, was sworn into the U.S. Senate Tuesday to replace Marco Rubio, who was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state on Monday.
Moody joined Ohio’s Jon Husted as one of two new Republican senators.
Husted, who was Ohio’s lieutenant governor, is replacing Vice President JD Vance.
Both of them will serve until at least 2026, when elections will be held to permanently fill their seats.
Vance swore them both in, serving in his new capacity as president of the Senate.
Moody is just the second woman to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate, and the first in nearly 40 years; Republican Paula Hawkins served in the chamber from 1981 to 1987.
To date, 63 women have served in the Senate, with 25 currently in office.
Moody has spent her career in the justice system, working as a federal prosecutor before being elected at age 31 to the post of circuit judge in Hillsborough County.
She ran for the statewide office of attorney general in 2018, the same year DeSantis won his first bid as governor.
Moody comes from a well-known Tampa Bay family and followed in the footsteps of her father, U.S. District Judge James Moody.
