Florida Senator Ashley Moody voted to confirm each of the nominees on this page, and two of her votes decided the outcome: Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, confirmed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote, and Todd Blanche as attorney general, confirmed 50 to 49. Hegseth then ran the Iran war, in which an Army captain from Winter Haven, Florida, was among the first soldiers killed.
Moody also voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose department cut the CDC and replaced the vaccine advisory committee; Kristi Noem and Markwayne Mullin, whose department ended protected status for Venezuelans, including many in Doral, Florida; Russell Vought, who directed federal layoffs; and Frank Bisignano, under whom Social Security lost 344 staff in Florida.
Ashley Moody's Cabinet Confirmation Votes and What the Officials Did
- Moody Cast One of the 50 Votes That Confirmed Pete Hegseth, Who Ran the Iran War. On January 24, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, and the vote was 50 to 50 with the Vice President breaking the tie, so Hegseth would not have been confirmed without her. She also voted to confirm Stephen Feinberg as deputy secretary of defense and General Dan Caine as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They led the war with Iran that began February 28, 2026, in which 21 service members have died and 865 have been injured, at a Pentagon-estimated cost of $43.6 billion. One of the first four killed was Captain Cody A. Khork, 35 years old, of Winter Haven, Florida.
- Moody Voted to Confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Whose Department Cut the CDC and Rewrote Vaccine Policy. On February 13, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services, 52-48. The CDC lost 30%, or more than 3,800 employees, between March 2025 and May 2026. In June 2025 Kennedy fired and replaced all the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the U.S. has reported nearly 3,887 confirmed cases of measles as of October 1, more than in any year since 1991, KFF reported in 2026. Kennedy's department also canceled nearly 700 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants nationwide, KFF Health News reported.
- Moody Voted to Confirm the Homeland Security Leaders Who Ended Protected Status for Venezuelans in Florida. Moody voted to confirm Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security on January 25, 2025, Rodney Scott as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection on June 18, 2025, and Markwayne Mullin as Noem's successor on March 23, 2026. Noem's order ending Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans affects 348,202 Venezuelans in its first group, and in Doral, Florida, people went from having work permits, drivers' licenses and protection from deportation to no legal status. Nationally, nearly 70,000 people are in ICE detention as of March 2026, and ICE recorded 31 detainee deaths in 2025.
- Moody Voted to Confirm Mehmet Oz, Whose Agency Projects 2.3 Million Fewer People on Medicaid. On April 3, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 53-45. In June 2026 his agency issued the rule carrying out the Medicaid work requirement, projecting that "enrollment would be reduced by 2.3 million individuals in FY 2027".
- Moody Voted to Confirm Pam Bondi and, With a Deciding Vote, Todd Blanche to Run the Justice Department. Moody voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general on February 4, 2025, Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025, and Blanche as attorney general on August 8, 2026, when her vote was needed. Their department indicted the President's critics James Comey and Letitia James in cases a judge dismissed, its January 2026 release of the Epstein files had thousands of redaction failures on behalf of nearly 100 individual survivors, and it terminated crime-prevention and victim-services grants initially valued at about $820 million, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.
- Moody Voted to Confirm Russell Vought, Who Directed Federal Layoffs and Canceled Funds Congress Approved. On February 6, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Russell Vought as budget director, 53-47. His office directed agencies to plan large layoffs, and by August 2026 the government workforce was 264,000 employees smaller, a decrease of about 12%. His office also used a pocket rescission to claw back $4.9 billion in funding in August 2025, a method the Government Accountability Office says is not allowed: "The President may not force the expiration of budget authority Congress has already enacted and did not rescind."
- Moody Voted to Confirm the Commerce Secretary and Trade Representative Behind the Tariffs Still in Force. Moody voted to confirm Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary on February 18, 2025 and Jamieson Greer as trade representative on February 26, 2025. Their agencies' tariffs still in force include steel and aluminum duties raised to 50 percent and Greer's July 2026 tariffs on 60 economies, and the Yale Budget Lab estimated that tariffs under current law cost households about $1,100 a year.
- Moody Voted to Confirm the Leaders of the VA and Social Security as Both Lost Thousands of Staff. Moody voted to confirm Doug Collins as veterans affairs secretary on February 4, 2025 and Frank Bisignano as Social Security commissioner on May 6, 2025. The VA was "on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees" in 2025, and by fiscal 2026 the Miami VA Healthcare System in Florida designated 96 occupations as severe staffing shortages. Social Security lost 344 staff in Florida, 13 percent, from January 2025 to April 2026, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found.
- Moody Voted to Confirm the Agriculture, Education and Housing Secretaries Who Cut Their Departments. Moody voted to confirm Brooke Rollins at Agriculture on February 13, 2025, Scott Turner at Housing and Urban Development on February 5, 2025 and Linda McMahon at Education on March 3, 2025. USDA cut its staff by about 20 percent in 2025, Civil Eats reported; HUD went down to roughly 6,300 workers; and the Education Department's workforce fell from 4,133 employees to 2,183, the Hechinger Report found.
- Moody Voted to Confirm the Deputy Secretary of State as the Department Absorbed USAID and Laid Off Staff. On March 24, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Christopher Landau as deputy secretary of state, 60-31. The State Department took over programs previously run by the U.S. Agency for International Development and shut the agency on July 1, 2025, and NPR reported a year later that more than 1,350 employees, including foreign services officers were laid off.
- Moody Voted to Confirm the Civil Rights Chief Who Shrank Voting-Rights Enforcement. On April 3, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Harmeet Dhillon to lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. The staff of its voting section dwindled from approximately 30 lawyers down to about 6, the Brennan Center found, and the division moved to dismiss lawsuits against the Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis police departments.
- Moody Voted to Confirm Kelly Loeffler, Who Cut the Small Business Administration's Staff by 43 Percent. On February 19, 2025, Moody voted to confirm Kelly Loeffler to lead the Small Business Administration. A month later the agency said "the agency will reduce its workforce by 43%", leaving fewer staff to process small-business and disaster loans.
What the Cabinet Officials Ashley Moody Confirmed Did to Florida
- Florida soldier killed. Captain Cody A. Khork, 35 years old, of Winter Haven, Florida, was killed in Kuwait on March 1, 2026, during the war run by the defense secretary Moody's vote confirmed.
- Venezuelans in Doral. Doral is the American city with the most Venezuelans, and the end of their protected status under Noem left many without the right to work or drive.
- Social Security offices. Florida's Social Security workforce fell by 344 people, including 252 customer-service staff, 13 percent of the total, from January 2025 to April 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ashley Moody on Cabinet confirmations
What is Ashley Moody's record on cabinet confirmations under Trump?
Ashley Moody voted to confirm each of the nominees on this page, and her votes decided two: Pete Hegseth at Defense, confirmed 50 to 50 with the Vice President, and Todd Blanche as attorney general, confirmed 50 to 49. The officials she confirmed ran the Iran war, cut the CDC, the VA and Social Security, and ended protected status for Venezuelans, whose largest U.S. community is in Doral, Florida.
Did Ashley Moody cast the deciding vote for Pete Hegseth?
Yes. Ashley Moody voted to confirm Pete Hegseth on January 24, 2025, when the Senate split 50 to 50 and Vice President Vance broke the tie, so Hegseth would have lost without any one of the 50 yes votes. The Pentagon's inspector general later found Hegseth had sent sensitive, nonpublic, operational information over the Signal app.
Did Ashley Moody vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?
Yes. Ashley Moody voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on February 13, 2025, and he was confirmed 52-48. In June 2025 Kennedy fired and replaced all the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the panel that recommends which vaccines Americans get.
Did Ashley Moody vote to confirm Pam Bondi?
Yes. Ashley Moody voted to confirm Pam Bondi as U.S. attorney general on February 4, 2025. Bondi's Justice Department indicted the President's critics James Comey and Letitia James in cases a judge dismissed because the prosecutor had been unlawfully appointed.
Last updated: 2026-10-25