Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped the state’s attorney general, Ashley Moody, on Thursday to replace Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) when he departs office to become President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state.

As attorney general, Moody expressed unwavering support for Israel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks and has prioritized cracking down on rising statewide antisemitism in her job — with a focus on scrutinizing Florida’s college campuses.  

Earlier this week, Moody announced her office will host a law enforcement training session aimed at addressing university antisemitism. The training comes amid a 94% increase in hate crimes against Jewish Floridians from 2022 to 2023. 

Days after the Oct. 7 attacks, as anti-Israel rhetoric soared on hundreds of campuses, Moody told Floridians that the state has a “zero-tolerance policy” for hate crimes. 

In an Oct. 2023 memo to 21 college and university campus police chiefs, Moody wrote, “Florida stands with Israel and those affected by Hamas’ horrific crimes, and we cannot stand by and let those who wish to terrorize, harass, assault or threaten our Jewish communities do so with impunity.”

Last summer, before students returned to campus for the 2024 school year, Moody wrote a memo warning the state’s universities to refrain from playing host to “cesspools of lawlessness and hate.”

Moody has also maintained a tough stance on the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement. In March she led a multistate coalition of state attorneys general in investigating whether investment group MSCI had ties to the BDS movement.

“Israel is our greatest ally in the Middle East, and in Florida, we unequivocally support their right to exist,” Moody said at the time. “The BDS movement has one goal, the complete elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. The allegations against MSCI are deeply disturbing and we have called for a quick response from the company’s leadership directly addressing our concerns.”

Moody has been loyal to President Trump’s agenda, and joined a lawsuit after the 2020 election alleging voter irregularities in four battleground states. Before being elected attorney general in 2018, she was a circuit court judge in Hillsborough County.

She is expected to serve the remaining two years of Rubio’s term and run for the seat again in 2026.