Ashley Moody

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman says Ashley Moody’s appointment to the U.S. Senate was a “payoff” for signing off on a Medicaid settlement that later became known as the Hope Florida scandal.

Vindman, who may be best known as the U.S. Army officer who helped spark the 2019 impeachment of President Donald Trump, is running as a Democrat for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat. Earlier this month, Vindman sat down for an interview with the News Journal at Scenic 90 Cafe in Pensacola.

Vindman said his campaign is “laser focused” on unseating Moody and tied her time as Florida Attorney General, when her office signed off on a $67 million Medicaid settlement with health care provider Centene, to her appointment to the U.S. Senate.

“Her payoff was the Senate seat,” Vindman said.

The News Journal reached out to Moody’s office and campaign, but received no response.

The settlement arose as a result of allegations that Centene had overfilled Florida’s Medicaid program, and the company agreed to pay the state $67 million, with $57 million going to the state and $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation, a direct support organization for the Florida Department of Children and Families. Hope Florida forwarded that $10 million to two “dark money groups” who transferred $8.5 million to a political committee led by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Chief-of-Staff James Uthmeier. The committee ran ads opposing Amendment 3 in 2024, which would have legalized recreational marijuana. The amendment didn’t pass.

Moody was Florida Attorney General at the time, and her chief deputy, John Guard, signed the settlement.

DeSantis appointed Moody to the U.S. Senate in January 2025 to fill the seat left vacant when Marco Rubio became Secretary of State, and he later appointed Uthmeier as Florida Attorney General. DeSantis noted when he appointed Moody that she helped the administration defeat Amendment 3 and Amendment 4, which would’ve added a right to abortion to the state constitution.

State Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, led a House subcommittee that investigated the scandal in 2025 and revealed the movement of funds. A Leon County grand jury was convened to investigate the issue, but nothing from the grand jury has been made public, while Uthmeier has publicly said there was no wrongdoing and that he was not a target nor indicted by any grand jury.

Florida officials confirmed in February the state reimbursed the federal government for its share of the full $67 million settlement “in an abundance of caution” despite officials previously insisting the $10 million paid to Hope Florida was not Medicaid dollars, according to a report from the Florida Phoenix.

Andrade told the News Journal on July 27 that he never spoke to Moody about the Hope Florida scandal, though he tried to.

“I have nothing but respect for Sen. Moody,” Andrade said.

Andrade said based on everything he’s seen, he believes Uthmeier was behind moving the money, which he still said was “wire fraud” and “money laundering.”

“While the Attorney General's Office should’ve put more controls in place, I don’t believe from what I’ve seen that Ashley Moody or John Guard knew how the money would be used,” Andrade said.

For Vindman, the case is clear:

“She didn't earn her spot there (in the U.S. Senate),” Vindman said. “It was a payoff. It was a pay-to-play on the back of her signing off on $10 million for a political ad campaign.”

A WFOR report that aired after Vindman’s interview with the News Journal also questioned why Moody hasn’t taken any questions about the issue.

Jacksonville Rep. Angie Nixon, who is also running in the Democratic primary for Senate, issued a statement on July 28 calling the transfer of funds “morally bankrupt.”

"This is a massive, disqualifying abuse of public trust, and now she’s hiding from the media and dodging accountability," Nixon said. "If Ashley Moody has nothing to hide, she must demand the immediate, unredacted release of the grand jury report."

Vindman believes he can turn Florida blue

If fundraising numbers are any indication, Vindman is the favorite to win the Democratic primary.

Vindman has raised $14.5 million since he entered the race in January, while Nixon has raised about $625,000.

Vindman’s campaign release doesn’t focus on his advantage over Nixon but rather his fundraising advantage over Moody. She has only raised $10.8 million. Among all Senate candidates in the country, Vindman is at No. 14 for total raised while Moody is at No. 31.

Vindman points out he’s received more than 425,000 donations that average less than $40.

“That's the best indicator that I have that we have so much grassroots support, and it's coming from all corners of the political spectrum,” Vindman said.

Nixon has called for Vindman to debate her ahead of the primary, but during his interview with the News Journal, it was clear he was looking ahead to facing Moody in November.

“I’m not leaving anything to chance,” Vindman said, pointing out that while in the military he co-authored the National Military Strategy on Russia. “… We're being very thoughtful. We're being very methodical. We're making sure that we are in a good place for the primary. But I'm absolutely going to be focused on the general.”

Nixon, who's won endorsements from the progressive wing of the party like U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost and State Rep. Anna Eskamani, says Vindman is taking Democratic voters for granted.

Vindman, who has won endorsements from mainstream members of the party like Florida Senate Democratic leader Sen. Lori Berman, Sen. Tina Polsky and state Rep. Dan Daley, said he believes that voters who are going to show up in 2026 will be a new electorate compared to previous election cycles.

“I could go to places like The Villages the morning of a Trump rally, walk a line of folks waiting to get in, and hear that folks are deeply concerned about whether they could afford to continue to live in the state of Florida, and looking to move,” Vindman said. “Their kids are leaving the state. There's a special kind of magic that you're connecting with folks across the political spectrum on a message of ending the chaos, crushing corruption, and cutting costs.”

Even though Northwest Florida is dominated by the Republican Party, Vindman said he believes he can earn support here as well. Vindman said he got to know Northwest Florida as he would visit here often when he was stationed in Fort Benning in Georgia, as well as during his Army Ranger training at Camp Rudder on Eglin Air Force Base, where Rangers undergo their final stage of training known as the “swamp phase.”

Vindman said he believes he has a lot of common ground with veterans who call Northwest Florida home.

“There's an opportunity to make that case based on my record of public service, based on my record of doing the right thing regardless of the consequences,” Vindman said.