Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that state Attorney General Ashley Moody will be taking Marco Rubio’s place as the Sunshine State’s junior senator.

DeSantis announced his pick at a news conference in Orlando days before Rubio is set to resign to become President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state.

The governor said that he wanted to choose a senator who will back Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda and “cut spending.”

“Talk is cheap. We need people that have demonstrated fidelity to these principles with their actions,” DeSantis said of Moody, who has been Florida’s top law enforcement officer since 2019 and is a fifth-generation resident of the state.

“I’m happy to say we’ve had an attorney general who has been somebody that has acted time and time again to support the values that we all share,” he added, “whether that’s illegal immigration, [the] opioid and fentanyl crisis, human trafficking. She has stood strong time and time again, most recently in this past year, filing lawsuits and joining lawsuits to take on the weaponization of law enforcement that targeted then-candidate Donald Trump.” 

The governor noted that Moody led the investigation into the second Trump assassination attempt, fought former special counsel Jack Smith over his prosecution of the incoming president and challenged President Biden’s lax border policies. 

DeSantis added Wednesday that he didn’t make the announcement sooner because he didn’t want the media to make his choice a “pinata” and attack them for months before Rubio is sworn in.

Moody will have to go through a special election in November of 2026 to complete the remainder of Rubio’s term. If she chooses, she will then be up for election to a full six-year term in 2028.

In separate remarks, Moody vowed to “fight for President Trump to deliver the America First agenda on day one,” fighting to shrink federal agencies and even cut funding from the United Nations. 

DeSantis met with Trump several times in recent weeks, going golfing with him and meeting with him at a governor’s dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

The two have been repairing rifts in their relationship following the 2024 GOP primaries, and have been warm with each other in recent months.

Trump daughter-in-law and former Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump had been widely tipped as the favorite for the position after Rubio was nominated as America’s top diplomat. 

However, the Trump daughter withdrew her name from consideration for the seat last month.