Politics
Ashely Moody brings statewide star power to SD 14 race, backs ‘conservative champion’ Josie Tomkow
U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody is throwing her weight behind state Rep. Josie Tomkow as she runs for a seat in the upper chamber, in Florida Senate District 14. Tomkow is running to replace former Sen. Jay Collins, who left the post after Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped him to be Lieutenant Governor.
“Josie Tomkow is a conservative champion and has served in the Florida House during a time of great consequence – throughout it all, she stood up for individual freedom and protected the rights and liberty of each and every Floridian. We can count on Josie Tomkow to keep fighting to preserve the Free State of Florida,” Moody said.
And Moody would know. Until earlier this year, she was part of an all-Republican Governor’s cabinet as the state Attorney General.
Now serving in the U.S. Senate, Moody’s endorsement has perhaps even more weight. And it adds to a rapidly growing list of supporters.
On Wednesday, state Senate leadership threw its weight behind Tomkow after Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Melanie Griffin announced she had reconsidered her bid for the seat and suspended her campaign, paving the way for Tomkow to solidify as the GOP front-runner and likely the front-runner in the General Election, too.
Even before that, Tomkow had entered the race last week with a host of initial supporters, including U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee; state Reps. Lawrence McClure, the House budget chief, Danny Alvarez, Traci Koster and Michael Owen; Tampa Bay area Sheriffs; and Hillsborough County Commissioner Christine Miller.
“Sen. Moody’s record reflects a commitment to the shared values of our conservative cause. We are all fortunate for her service to Florida, both as Attorney General and in the United States Senate. I am so incredibly grateful for her endorsement and can’t wait to work together to continue to make Florida the best state in the nation,” Tomkow said of her latest endorsement.
One other Republican, Amaro Lionheart, is also running, though he is not expected to pose a threat. The Special Primary is set for Jan. 13.
As of now, there will be a Special General Election on March 24. One Democrat, Brian Nathan, has filed to run.
Over the past several years, Tomkow has proved herself to be a quiet force in the House. As a cattle rancher, she provided strong representation for agricultural communities, and she remains a key member of Speaker Daniel Perez’s leadership team, helping shape numerous legislative packages beyond just her own bills.
With Perez still holding another year in his leadership tenure, his backing would all but guarantee plenty of cash to keep the seat for the GOP and to help with other campaign needs, with friends in high places to help as well.
Hillsborough County-based SD 14 favors Republicans slightly, with Republicans controlling nearly 39% of the electorate. Democrats account for just under 32% of district voters, while independents make up more than 29%.
Mills was a day-one Byron Donalds backer in the gubernatorial race.
A former House Speaker and current candidate for Governor is leading the charge for Republicans as scandal swirls around a Congressman.
Saying the “evidence is mounting” against Rep. Cory Mills, Paul Renner says other candidates for Governor should “stand up and be counted” and join him in the call for Mills to leave Congress.
Renner made the call earlier this week.
But on Friday, the Palm Coast Republican doubled down.
He spotlighted fresh reporting from Roger Sollenberger alleging that Mills’ company “appears to have illegally exported weapons while he serves in Congress, including to Ukraine,” that Mills failed to disclose conflicts of interest, “tried to fistfight other Republican members of Congress, and lied about his party stature to bully other GOP candidates out of primaries that an alleged romantic interest was running in,” and lied about his conversion to Islam.
The House Ethics Committee is already probing Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, over allegations of profiting from federal defense contracts while in Congress. More recently, the Committee expanded its work to review allegations that he assaulted one ex-girlfriend and threatened to share intimate photos of another.
Other candidates have been more reticent in addressing the issue, including Rep. Byron Donalds.
“When any other members have been involved and stuff like this, my advice is the same,” said Donalds, a Naples Republican. “They need to actually spend a lot more time in the district and take stock of what’s going on at home, and make that decision with their voters.”
The response came less than a year after Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, spoke at the launch of Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign.
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Staff writer Jacob Ogles contributed reporting.
The cold war between Florida’s Governor and his predecessor is nearly seven years old and tensions show no signs of thawing.
On Friday, Sen. Rick Scott weighed in on Florida Politics’ reporting on the Agency for Health Care Administration’s apparent repayment of $10 million of Medicaid money from a settlement last year, which allegedly had been diverted to the Hope Florida Foundation, summarily filtered through non-profits through political committees, and spent on political purposes.
“I appreciate the efforts by the Florida legislature to hold Hope Florida accountable. Millions in tax dollars for poor kids have no business funding political ads. If any money was misspent, then it should be paid back by the entities responsible, not the taxpayers,” Scott posted to X.
While AHCA Deputy Chief of Staff Mallory McManus says that is an “incorrect” interpretation, she did not respond to a follow-up question asking for further detail this week.
The $10 million under scrutiny was part of a $67 million settlement from state Medicaid contractor Centene, which DeSantis said was “a cherry on top” in the settlement, arguing it wasn’t truly from Medicaid money.
But in terms of the Scott-DeSantis contretemps, it’s the latest example of tensions that seemed to start even before DeSantis was sworn in when Scott left the inauguration of his successor, and which continue in the race to succeed DeSantis, with Scott enthusiastic about current front runner Byron Donalds.
Earlier this year, Scott criticized DeSantis’ call to repeal so-called vaccine mandates for school kids, saying parents could already opt out according to state law.
While running for re-election to the Senate in 2024, Scott critiqued the Heartbeat Protection Act, a law signed by DeSantis that banned abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy with some exceptions, saying the 15 week ban was “where the state’s at.”
In 2023 after Scott endorsed Donald Trump for President while DeSantis was still a candidate, DeSantis said it was an attempt to “short circuit” the voters.
That same year amid DeSantis’ conflict over parental rights legislation with The Walt Disney Co., Scott said it was important for Governors to “work with” major companies in their states.
The critiques went both ways.
When running for office, DeSantis distanced himself from Scott amid controversy about the Senator’s blind trust for his assets as Governor.
“I basically made decisions to serve in uniform, as a prosecutor, and in Congress to my financial detriment,” DeSantis said in October 2018. “I’m not entering (office) with a big trust fund or anything like that, so I’m not going to be entering office with those issues.”
In 2020, when the state’s creaky unemployment website couldn’t handle the surge of applicants for reemployment assistance as the pandemic shut down businesses, DeSantis likened it to a “jalopy in the Daytona 500” and Scott urged him to “quit blaming others” for the website his administration inherited.
The chill between the former and current Governors didn’t abate in time for 2022’s hurricane season, when Scott said DeSantis didn’t talk to him after the fearsome Hurricane Ian ravaged the state.
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