Moody lends assist ahead of DeSantis-Newsom debate

Nov 30, 2023

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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody speaks as Gov. Ron DeSantis looks on.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody speaks as Gov. Ron DeSantis looks on after announcing a proposal for Digital Bill of Rights, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla. | Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo

Good morning and welcome to Thursday.

The showdown between Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis is putting the spotlight on another Florida ally of the governor.

Ahead of the much-hyped event, Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody of Florida will hold a press conference near the Alpharetta, Ga., location of the Fox News debate with several ex-Californians who fled the Golden State for the Sunshine State. The group is comprised of people who’ll complain about California's school system, its high homelessness rate and public safety problems, per Fox News.

Moody, who’s also interested in running for governor in 2026, is the only member of the Florida Cabinet to have endorsed DeSantis for president, swooping in to do so right after he launched his campaign in May. That put her staunchly in the DeSantis camp even after she’d filed briefs supporting Donald Trump, including to invalidate the 2020 election results and against the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid.

But the attorney general’s presence at the debate is more than a show of support — it’s pre-debate spin foreshadowing how DeSantis will attack Newsom. DeSantis has insisted that while he was in California this year, he met several people who had been mugged. He also shot an ad in Newsom’s hometown of San Francisco, where he said he saw unhoused people using drugs and “defecating on the street.”

Crime has risen in California since Newsom took office, but comparing precise crime statistics between the two states is difficult because Florida doesn’t release all its data to the FBI. California does have a larger proportion of unhoused people.

DeSantis has worked to project a tough-on-crime image throughout his governorship, effectively pushing for changes to Florida laws to lower the threshold for the death penalty and to create harsher punishments for people who traffic fentanyl.

The attorney general, who is in an elected office, is often effusive about DeSantis when they appear together at events throughout the state and talks about how much she loves working in his administration. “I have the best attorney general job in the nation working with this governor,” she gushed in January.

Moody is a former circuit judge and federal prosecutor who shares many of DeSantis’ legislative objectives on law enforcement, as well as on matters of Covid restrictions and anti-abortion measures. Her predecessor, Pam Bondi, became one of Trump’s defense attorneys during his first impeachment trial.

Moody has supported DeSantis’ agenda by filing lawsuits against the Biden administration on drug pricing, immigration and college accreditation. She also backed him when he suspended liberal prosecutors and defended his actions as lawful after he orchestrated flights carrying migrants from Texas to California’s capital city of Sacramento. In 2021, she accompanied DeSantis on a trip to the Texas-Mexico border.

It’s atypical for a government official to appear at a campaign event for her boss’ presidential bid, but it’s not unprecedented for DeSantis. Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo spoke at a medical town hall with DeSantis in New Hampshire about a month ago.

— WHERE’S RON? DeSantis will debate Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California for 90 minutes on Fox News with Sean Hannity.

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... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ...

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COMING UP — Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and GOP state Sen. Colleen Burton are hosting reporters on Thursday, Dec. 7, at 8:30 a.m. for a briefing on their sweeping health care policy plans. The event is likely to be live streamed for the public.

ON TRACK TO PASS — A new poll from the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab found 62 percent of Florida voters surveyed said they would vote yes to establish a right to abortion in Florida. A total of 67 percent said they’d support legalizing cannabis recreationally. The poll signals that if the issues make the ballot during the 2024 election, then they’re likely to pass, given that each will need 60 percent voter support.

'WHEELING AND DEALING' — “Big DeSantis donors land on powerful government boards,” reports the Orlando Sentinel’s Jeffrey Schweers. “A company owned by Craig Mateer, an Orlando entrepreneur, GOP megadonor and gubernatorial appointee, was paid $75,000 in September to provide travel to DeSantis’ presidential campaign, federal campaign reports show. That pales in comparison with the $1.6 million in travel expenses covered by a company associated with Scott Wagner, a South Florida lawyer and longtime friend of DeSantis who was reappointed to the South Florida Water Management District.”

JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS — “State settles Christmas drag show complaint with Miami hotel, venue. The fine: $5,000, reports the Miami Herald’s Ana Ceballos. The Hyatt Regency Miami agreed to the fine, which came after a minor was attending “A Drag Queen Christmas." The hotel agreed to bar minors from the show in the future.

PRICE HIKES — “Not everyone happy as Citizens Insurance’s ‘depopulation’ drives decline of policies,” reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Ron Hurtibise. “State-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. saw its first month-to-month policy-count decline in years between September and October. While that news is soothing to lawmakers and insurance regulators in Tallahassee who are eager to reduce the company’s size, it’s not exactly welcomed by many of the policyholders who felt they had no choice but accept offers from private-market insurers at costs projected to rise by up to 20 percent over the projected renewal cost of their Citizens policies.”

PENINSULA AND BEYOND

Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, D-Orlando. | Phil Sears/AP

OUT OF THE EQUATION — Republicans legislators walked out of an Orange County delegation meeting yesterday before Democratic state Sen. Linda Stewart introduced a local bill to reinstate the Reedy Creek Improvement District for the land surrounding Walt Disney World.

The bill would end the tenure of the current district board members, who were handpicked by DeSantis as retribution after Disney opposed a curriculum law on LGBTQ+ topics in public schools. Republicans’ absence meant the delegation didn’t have a quorum, so Democrats’ 7-0 to advance the bill wasn’t valid.

GOP state Sen. Jason Brodeur left the meeting after a separate disagreement with Democrats about the rules regarding who gets to chair these county meetings. Democrats are in charge given that they’re in the majority in the area, so Republicans can’t run for chair or vice chair — a rule most other counties in Florida don’t have.

“Discrimination and disenfranchisement of any kind is not ok, even if it's against Republicans,” Brodeur told Playbook via text. Sen. Dennis Baxley and Rep. Doug Bankson were the other Republicans who left the meeting, and three more had excused absences.

Pressed about his position on the bill, Brodeur said only that he didn’t hear it “so I don’t have an opinion on its contents.”

But Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani, who chairs the delegation, accused Republicans of leaving as a way to avoid putting them on the spot over Disney. “It’s disrespectful to the staff who spent hours preparing for this meeting, and to the more than 100 members of the public who signed up to speak,” she said. “I can only assume this was less about delegation rules and more about Republican lawmakers not wanting to take a vote on restoring Reedy Creek.”

In a post on X, Chris Spencer, DeSantis’ policy chief, made it clear where the bill would land if it were to somehow make its way through GOP-supermajority Legislature.

“At the end of the day the Executive Branch maintains the veto,” he wrote.

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CAMPAIGN MODE

TRAVEL BAN ORIGINATOR — “Before Trump, a low-profile congressman named Ron DeSantis sought a 'Muslim travel ban,’” reports NBC’s Natasha Korecki. “On Dec. 1, 2015, DeSantis introduced the Terrorist Refugee Infiltration Prevention Act, which would have blocked entry of refugees from certain countries ‘if the alien is a national of, has habitually resided in, or is claiming refugee status due to events in any country containing terrorist-controlled territory.’”

FOILS — “How DeSantis changed his tune on debating Newsom,” by The Messenger’s Marc Caputo. “The rare and offbeat face-off between the two governors has been billed as a red state v. blue state showdown, but the event’s context is all about presidential politics — current and future. It’s also a glimpse into a parallel political universe that is closer to what American voters say they want, given polls that show they overwhelmingly oppose a rematch between the 81-year-old Biden and 77-year-old Trump.”

GOOD ON PAPER — “DeSantis is running a textbook Iowa caucuses campaign. Trump still seems like he's going to completely blow him out,” reports Business Insider’s Brent D. Griffiths and John L. Dorman. “For all his momentum, polling shows DeSantis lagging Trump by double digits. DeSantis would need a virtually unprecedented swing to overcome the former president's advantage.”

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DATELINE D.C.

TODAY — Florida delegation GOP Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, Matt Gaetz and Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz are holding a press conference about “how the U.S. government has covered up” the truth about UFOs.

BIG NUMBERS — Divisions leave Florida’s House Republicans powerless, reports POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy. Florida Republicans should have clout in the House. They have the numbers, the pedigree and the recently earned distinction as an epicenter of Republican politics.

But that hasn’t translated to much sway in the House, where the 20 Republican members remain at odds with each other over policy and politics but aim to emulate other big, unified delegations. Despite the numbers, they yield little sway. No members are in leadership. No Florida Republican holds a gavel. And while they often vote together on Florida issues, they’re otherwise a motley crew with conflicting alliances and approaches.

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL). | Scott Olson/Getty Images

BIPARTISAN BILL — Americans would no longer have to repay the cost of transport to evacuate Israel during the war under a bill just introduced by U.S. Reps. Federica Wilson (D-Fla.) and Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.).

The Justifiable Use of Money for Peace Act would waive the requirement from the State Department that Americans reimburse the federal government for the costs of their flights and other transportation when they flee Israel. Gimenez said victims of terrorism shouldn’t have to “be burdened by cumbersome paperwork or be forced to repay" such costs.

The Florida delegation has been united on the topic of Israel following Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7 and the bill’s authors are open to including this measure as part of a national security package Congress is still negotiating. “We're offering solace to those grieving, allowing them to begin the healing process without the added weight of repayments,” Wilson said.

The State Department flights stand in contrast with those DeSantis orchestrated into Florida, which were paid for by the state and don't require reimbursement.

ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN

— “It’s super Miami: A Florida dialect is getting recognition,” reports the Washington Post’s Raquel Coronell Uribe.

BIRTHDAYS: State Rep. Bob Rommel … former state Rep. Yvonne Hinson … ProPublica’s Kathleen McGrory … Mark Kaplan, VP of government and community relations for the University of Florida … Keith Fitzgerald, professor at New College of Florida and former state representative … Florida Politics’ Jacob Ogles

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