With Senator Marco Rubio all but assured of being confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the next Secretary of State, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been tasked with finding the senior senator’s replacement, the search for the next senator from Florida may start and end in the Cabinet with Attorney General Ashley Moody.
It appears as if Moody is Gov. DeSantis’s likely choice to replace Senator Rubio, but other names are being floated as being on his very short list of possible replacements.
Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez and DeSantis’ Chief of Staff are considered second and third choices, respectively.
To be clear, Moody is the likely pick, but not the definite choice.
Even though lawmakers like Senator Rick Scott and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, have expressed their support for her senatorial aspirations, one thing is for certain: Lara Trump will most likely not be chosen to replace Sen. Rubio.
Earlier this week, President-elect Donald Trump appeared to concede that his daughter-in-law wasn’t going to be chosen to replace Rubio.
“No, I don’t. I probably don’t, but I don’t know. Ron’s doing a good job, and it’s his choice. Nothing to do with me,” said President Trump.
Outside of replacing Rubio with Moody, Nunez, or whoever, DeSantis’s senatorial choice has 2026 gubernatorial implications.
According to several Tallahassee-based sources who asked that we keep their names out of this article, DeSantis encouraged Moody to run for governor.
With DeSantis apparently backing a Moody gubernatorial candidacy in 2026, likely gubernatorial candidate Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, looks to have a very steep uphill climb if he decides to announce a run to replace DeSantis. Commissioner Simpson, who is an egg farmer, could see his political and gubernatorial eggs fried even before the primary race even gets started.
In addition, DeSantis’s alleged support for Moody can be seen as a dig at Rep. Byron Donalds.
Rep.Donalds once advised “America’s Governor,” but after he endorsed President Trump in the contentious 2024 Republican Presidential Primary election, the relationship between the two men completely soured.
Trump world appears to be galvanizing behind a probable Donalds gubernatorial run, and with that said, the 2026 Republican Gubernatorial Primary race could turn out to be a hotly contentious political proxy war between Trump and DeSantis.
For another Trump vs. DeSantis mano-a-mano, ugly primary contest to take place, Moody must run for governor, and not for reelection to the U.S. Senate.
Then again, President Trump asserting that this decision was solely DeSantis’ to make may have paved the road for DeSantis to appoint himself to Rubio’s soon-to-be vacant Senate seat.
