Ashley Moody Running Against Soros-Backed Candidate for Attorney General, Crushes Fundraising

March 29, 2022 Updated 4:34 P.M. ET

TALLAHASSEE (FCV) – On November 8, 2022 – less than 8 months away – Floridians will cast their vote to elect Florida’s next Attorney General.

Moody, like other statewide Republican candidates, are considered solid favorites to win re-election in 2022. Most national polls show Republicans favored in the generic ballot and as Florida moves more conservative, most pundits believe Moody will win re-election.

Not only that, but there are now more registered Republicans in Florida than Democrats. Despite this not being the case last election cycle, Republicans still swept the state, helped by efforts of Florida Republican Party Chairman Joe Gruters’ to get out the vote.

With lackluster President Joe Biden approval numbers across the board and an unfavorable generic ballot, Democrats are facing an uphill battle in the increasingly red state of Florida.

Moody recently joined DeSantis in announcing a new lawsuit against the Biden Administration for its public transportation mask mandate.

“President Biden’s shortsighted, heavy-handed and unlawful travel policies are frustrating travelers and causing chaos on public transportation,” she said.

“It’s long past time to alleviate some of the pressure on travelers and those working in the travel industry by immediately ending Biden’s unlawful public transportation mandates. I’m proud to stand with Governor DeSantis and to lead my fellow Attorneys General in this multistate action to end the forced masking of travelers in the U.S.” 

Moody was endorsed by the Florida Republican Party and is crushing her opponents in fundraising. She’s also been endorsed for re-election by Former President Donald Trump.

“Ashley Moody will never let you down, and I give her my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump said.

Moody was among 16 U.S. Attorneys General that supported a lawsuit aimed at contesting the 2020 Election Results. She also sued the Biden Administration over vaccine requirements for cruise line passengers. Other 2018 electoral endorsements include the National Rifle Association, the Florida Medical Association Political Action Committee, the Florida Associated Builders and Contractors, and the Florida Realtors Political Action Committee.

According to the Florida Department of State, Moody raised around $370,000 from her committee Friends of Ashley Moody since the start of 2022. Taking into account total funds raised and expended, she has around $3.4 million on hand in her committee.

As an individual candidate, she raised approximately $230,000 since the year began, bringing her total raised in 2022 to around $600,000.

Moody scored her 2018 attorney general victory with a margin of 6 points against Democrat Sean Shaw. She received 52.1% of the vote, while Shaw received 46.1%. Moody’s victory was a notably wider margin in 2018 compared to DeSantis and Senator Rick Scott who won by under 1%.

In the Republican primary for the Florida cabinet position, her opponent, Frank White, a Florida State Representative from 2016-2018, accused her of “running as a Republican on a record of a liberal.” As Attorney General, Moody earned the favor of conservatives, Trump, and DeSantis.

Moody attended the University of Florida and earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accounting and law. Later, she attended Stetson University College of Law earning a Masters of Law in International Law. Early on in her career, she practiced commercial litigation and volunteered to assist domestic violence victims seeking court protection.

She was the youngest judge in Florida in 2006 at the age of 31 after being elected as the Circuit Court Judge of the 13th Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County. She took office as Florida’s 38th Attorney General on January 8, 2019.

The other listed Democrat primary candidates for Attorney General are Jim Lewis, Daniel Uhlfelder, and Aramis Ayala – a George Soros-backed candidate in her 2016 State Attorney victory.

Last month, a Soros-backed District Attorney – Monique Worrell – in Orlando oversaw a suspected four-time shooter being released on paltry $3,550 bond in Orange County. Soros-funded candidates have been linked to being softer on crimes like rioting and looting.

FCV reached out to the Ayala campaign on Soros donations and has not received a response.

“You look at what has happened during Session, with congressional lines, with the issues with the LGBT community, certainly with voting, and how quiet our Attorney General was on those issues, despite the people needing a champion,” Ayala remarked on her disdain for current Attorney General Moody.

“As a Floridian, I know how hard people fight and how much they need support and need a fighter. The silence from Tallahassee was deafening,” she continued. Ayala served as a State Attorney in Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit.

On Ayala’s campaign website, she points to protecting “First Amendment Rights of Black Lives Matters protestors” and that she “Relentlessly pursued justice for hate crimes.” She received multiple endorsements when she initially planned to take Val Deming’s seat as U.S. Representative, but her sights turned to the attorney general’s race.

According to the Florida Department of State, Jim Lewis is the only candidate who has raised money as an individual candidate this election cycle. Since October 28, 2021, he raised only $4,150. In fact, Lewis took out a $15,000 loan in January, 2022. His expenditures add up to $4,484.

On Lewis’ campaign website, he headlines with “Don’t Trump my Florida,” a reference to various conservative sloganeering like “Don’t New York My Florida” and “Don’t Fauci My Florida.” He was previously an Assistant State Attorney in Orlando and Assistant Statewide Prosecutor in the late 20th century.

Currently, he runs a criminal law practice in Fort Lauderdale.

Uhlfelder says on his website that DeSantis and Moody “have been more interested in bullying those thye don’t agree with than helping Florida families.”

He points to 2015 when Confederate flags were removed from “state houses and courthouses all across the country,” where he “organized to take it down, never wavering in the face of death threats from near and far.” He also claims that DeSantis “violated [his] first amendment rights” during the COVID-19 pandemic when he told Floridians to stay home.

During the pandemic, Uhlfelder tried to force DeSantis to close beaches via a lawsuit that was decided by a panel of judges to have been filed in bad faith. The court asked for disciplinary measures against Uhlfelder for violating professional conduct. The case had nothing to do with First Amendment rights and did not come from DeSantis.

At the moment, there are no polls for Florida Attorney General in 2022. On August 23, the Democratic primary will take place.