Orlando Democrats gathered at a press conference in downtown Orlando Wednesday morning in nearly 90-degree heat to slam Republican U.S. Senator Ashley Moody over her healthcare record.
Namely, the GOP senator’s votes in favor of major cuts to Medicaid under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act approved last year, her stocks in the pharmaceutical industry, and her vote to kill off the health insurance subsidies that made Affordable Care Act health insurance plans more affordable for middle- and low-income earners.
“Ashley Moody voted to kick millions of Floridians, including those with chronic illness like me, off of Medicaid,” said local Tess O’Hara, referring to provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that will cut roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid funding over the next decade.
O’Hara, a resident of Orlando, has multiple sclerosis, and relies on medication and specialized treatment to keep the most painful symptoms of her incurable illness at bay.
“Floridians are struggling to afford their sky-high premiums and having to go without other necessities just to afford basic health care,” O’Hara said. “It’s clear we need action. We need relief. We need our elected officials to be on the patient’s side, on the side of Floridians — and not on the side of greedy pharma companies.”
Orange County Democrat Susan Windmiller, a Medicare recipient who is dealing with her own health insurance premium hikes, said Moody should “take a play” from the singer, songwriter, actor, philanthropist, and union member Dolly Parton. Parton died in Nashville at age 80 Tuesday.
“On a day when we’re all mourning the loss of Dolly Parton, maybe Ashley Moody should take a play from Dolly’s life and her legacy, and start leading with kindness,” Windmiller said. “Kindness for Floridians, kindness for seniors, kindness for people who need health care in the state of Florida, and all across our country.”
Moody — a former state attorney general appointed to the Senate last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill a vacancy — is facing off against Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon this fall to keep her seat.
Nixon, a progressive firebrand and former union organizer from Jacksonville who’s served in the Florida House since 2020, has campaigned in support of free, universal healthcare through Medicare for All and holding drug companies accountable to the American people. She’s been endorsed for the Senate by the likes of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
“Florida needs real representation in the U.S. Senate, and it’s about time that someone starts listening to us and looking out for us and our interests — not a rubber stamp for greedy special interests who push policies that are hurting us and hurting our state,” said Windmiller.
Orlando Weekly reached out to Sen. Moody’s office for a response to criticisms from Orange County Democrats and the Florida Democratic Party. We did not receive a response ahead of publication.
Sen. Moody’s office has defended Moody on the issue of stock-trading — specifically her six-figure investments into pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly — telling CNN last year that Moody “never approved or initiated a stock trade.”
“When she was appointed to the Senate at the end of January 2025, she was a part of an extended family investment partnership where a partner independently made investment decisions in consultation with a third-party financial advisor, and with no input from the Senator,” her office told CNN, adding that she hasn’t traded stocks since April 2025.
“As a sign of this commitment, Senator Moody introduced legislation to restore trust in Congress and ensure there is no appearance of impropriety as it relates to members trading individual stocks,” the statement continued.
According to a news release from her office, Moody hosted U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. — an anti-vaccine activist and the Make America Healthy Again movement leader — in Tampa Wednesday to discuss school nutrition.
Moody is running to retain her seat — and be elected for the first time to it — in a state that has a more than 1.5 million Republican voter registration edge, according to state Division of Elections data.
Still, nearly a quarter of Florida’s registered voters are registered independents (or No Party Affiliated), giving Nixon — who’s running a largely populist platform, focusing on affordability issues — an opportunity to pick up not just Democrats’ votes, but anyone else who is either unhappy with their current representation in the Senate or resonates with Nixon’s platform.
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