Race Analysis: Florida Attorney General

The Florida Attorney General race will see Democrat Aramis Ayala challenge incumbent Republican Ashley Moody.

Aramis Ayala, 47, became the first Black state attorney in Florida when she was elected in 2016. She served one term from 2017-21. Ayala also has 10 years of experience as a public defender. A video of Ayala being pulled over just months after she was elected state attorney went viral with critics arguing that it was a case of racial profiling.

Ayala is a fierce critic of the death penalty and created a divide in opinion when she announced that her office would not seek the death penalty for convicted murderers.

"As both a former prosecutor and public defender I saw the struggles faced by so many Floridians as a result of injustice,“ said Ayala in a statement. "My work as Attorney General will give them a voice and ensure that, in me, they have a fierce defender and advocate."

Ashley Moody was elected in 2018. She got her start in the world of politics when then-Florida governor Jeb Bush appointed her to be the student representative on the Board of Regents, a now-defunct body that ran the state's university system, in 2000, two years after she'd switched her registration from Democrat to Republican.

Moody was later appointed an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, and in 2006, she was elected to the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, in Hillsborough County.

Upon election, Moody kept Florida in a lawsuit that challenged the Affordable Care Act, and took a lead role in abetting former President Donald Trump's effort to remain in office after losing the 2020 presidential election. She also urged the federal government to drop its case against Trump associate Michael Flynn who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Moody opposes both the legalization of recreational marijuana and the reform of state cannabis laws. She also opposes the restoration of voting rights for former felons. Ayala supports both the legalization of cannabis and theimmediate release of anyone serving time solely for non-violent drug offenses.

While Moody has been strongly in favor of virtually all matters benefiting 2nd amendment rights activists, Ayala supports gun law reforms that include enhanced background checks for those purchasing guns.

Moody is extremely popular among Republicans and this has led to Ayala seeing very little support from the Democratic Party and its top donors, a sign that they do not view this race as even potentially competitive. While Moody has raised over $1.8 million as of the latest reporting period, Ayala has raised less than 10 percent of that at $161,000.

This is obviously not a favorable position when challenging a well-known incumbent in a statewide race without statewide name recognition of your own. In other words, Ayala has very little chance in this race.