Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed Attorney General Ashley Moody to the U.S. Senate, filling the seat held by Sen. Marco Rubio, whom President-elect Donald Trump appointed as secretary of state.

Rubio was selected to serve in Trump’s administration shortly after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, handing DeSantis a Senate appointment that is likely to have implications throughout Florida government and politics.

In recent weeks, Moody was widely expected to be the choice, while others, including Reps. Kat Cammack and Cory Mills, have spoken to DeSantis about the position. DeSantis had publicly stated that he had reservations about appointing a member of the House of Representatives because the GOP has a slim majority in that chamber.

State Senator Jay Collins, who served as a Green Beret, also received significant support from conservatives who wanted DeSantis to select a military veteran.

Ultimately, however, the seat goes to the 49-year-old Moody, who easily won her first election as attorney general in 2018 and her re-election in 2022. Due to term limits, she was unable to run again.

She must run in a special election in 2026 to retain the seat for the final two years of Rubio’s term. Mills has already announced he is running for Senate in 2026, as first reported by Politico, and Cammack is considering a run, meaning Moody will face Republican primary challengers.

However, according to the Center for American Women in Politics, her appointment is currently set to set a new record for Republican women in the Senate. If Moody takes the seat, there will be 10 Republican women in the chamber.

Moody is a close ally of DeSantis, having served as his main legal bulldog in a number of high-profile political battles with the Biden administration.

Most recently, Moody’s office, which is technically separate from the governor’s office, filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department in October over what they say was an attempt by the federal government to block Florida’s own investigation into Trump’s second assassination attempt. which took place in September 2016 at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

“Every day that Florida is prevented from investigating, it becomes more difficult to prove the state’s case in court,” Moody argued in the lawsuit. “In contrast, the federal government suffers no harm from Florida investigating federal crimes because the state has no intention of interfering with or obstructing federal investigations.”

DeSantis said he believes the federal government has “stonewalled” Florida’s ability to conduct its own investigation.

Moody said the state’s independent investigation was necessary in part because the Justice Department should not have investigated an attempted assassination of Trump while simultaneously trying to prosecute him. Since Trump’s election victory in November, former special counsel Jack Smith, who led federal cases against Trump over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and alleged mishandling of classified documents, has resigned, and those cases against Trump have ended.

In December, Moody also released an affidavit for the arrest of Ryan Routh, the suspected perpetrator of the second attack. She said a traffic jam that arose while searching for Routh led to an accident that injured a 6-year-old girl. Routh is in federal custody and charged with five counts in connection with the attempted assassination.

Earlier this year, the attorney general also sued the Biden administration to block a rule that Moody argued would have forced doctors to offer gender reassignment treatments contrary to her ruling. Transgender issues have been one of the key culture war battles DeSantis has focused on as governor.

DeSantis had not publicly signaled who he would choose to fill Rubio’s seat, but said the person would be a hardliner on immigration and would, among other things, advocate for reforms to the so-called H-1B visa program, which is the subject There were fierce internal disputes in the post-election battles among Trump’s own supporters.

Trump supporters like billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk said the program provides lower-cost international talent for many companies, while the populist wing of the MAGA movement, led by people like conservative pundits Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer, said the program should do so abolished.

Trump said in late December that he thought the program was “great.”

Moody’s pick will also likely reorder DeSantis’ own political power.

It is widely believed that DeSantis’ longtime chief of staff, James Uthmeier, will now fill the Moody’s post, which will require DeSantis to select a new top aide. Uthmeier served as campaign manager for DeSantis’ failed 2024 presidential bid and is considered one of his closest confidants.