Ashley Moody’s Senate race draws outside money: a super PAC backed by Ken Griffin for her, and a new group the Times ties to Florida lawyer Steve Pajcic against her

A new group called New Deal for All, Inc. reported spending $3,014,750.00 on advertising against Sen. Ashley Moody, the Florida Republican, dated Wednesday, Oct. 14, paid to Canal Partners Media of Atlanta, in a 24-hour report filed Oct. 15 (FEC filing 2026573). Its second report, filed Oct. 16, adds $61,410.88 and $20,470.30 for video production against Moody, paid to Counsel Media LLC of New York, and lists $3,096,631.18 in all against her, which matches our sum of the three rows (FEC filing 2028741; our arithmetic). The committee, FEC No. C00962696, lists a Tampa address, 701 S. Howard Avenue #106-813, and treasurer Jonathan Brill (FEC).

The New York Times reported Oct. 14 who is behind it. “Steve Pajcic, a lawyer and philanthropist in Florida, started a group that is airing ads in Kansas and South Carolina. Florida and Mississippi are next,” the Times summarized; Pajcic, “a co-founder of the personal-injury law firm Pajcic & Pajcic,” and his children “are spending at least $7 million for a blitz of ads in Florida, Kansas, Mississippi and South Carolina,” and the group “will soon expand to Florida, where it plans to spend most of its money” (The New York Times). Pajcic, 80, told the Times: “Democrats have been way too timid and modest in their expectations in the past. There’s a real chance for something big happening with this election, and I’m kind of old” (The New York Times). The Times reported that he contributed $147,000 to a Democratic Senate super PAC in 2024 and that $7 million is the most he has ever donated, he said (The New York Times). He was the Democrats’ 1986 nominee for governor and lost to Republican Bob Martinez, 54.56% to 45.44% (1986 Florida gubernatorial election results), and he served in the Florida Legislature in the 1970s and ’80s, the Times reported (The New York Times). The FEC reports name no donor; the tie between Pajcic and the group rests on the Times’ reporting.

On the other side, Stronger Safer Nation, a super PAC formed to support Moody, reported $1,310,380.00 of media placement against her Democratic challenger, state Rep. Angie Nixon, and $786,228.00 supporting Moody, both spent Oct. 8 and first aired Oct. 11, paid to Gen2 Solutions LLC of Arlington, Va., in a 48-hour report filed Oct. 13 (FEC filing 2020280). Reuters reported Oct. 1 that the PAC “was backed by a $2.5 million donation in May from Citadel founder Ken Griffin and $6.7 million from a Florida state PAC when it closed in March, has raised about $12 million so far and has not spent money on any other race” (Reuters). The Tampa Bay Times separately reported that Griffin “gave $2.5 million to a political action committee backing Sen. Ashley Moody’s campaign” (Tampa Bay Times).

Your stake: if you vote in Florida, you will see these ads before you see who paid for all of them. New Deal for All’s two filings so far are 24-hour independent-expenditure reports, which list spending but no donors (FEC). Mandatory early voting runs Saturday, Oct. 24, through Saturday, Oct. 31, and counties may open it as early as today, Oct. 19, under state law (s. 101.657; our date arithmetic). No cited figure supports a dollar amount per reader, so we print none.

The money

By our sums of FEC rows, the two outside groups have now put about $12.4 million into the Florida Senate race. Stronger Safer Nation’s nine rows, Sept. 17 through Oct. 8, total $7,649,044.75 against Nixon and $1,664,822.25 for Moody, $9,313,867.00 in all (FEC bulk file; our sums). Its filed aggregate fields are running totals of the whole race across both candidates: the $9,313,867.00 on its Oct. 13 Moody line equals our sum of all nine rows, and the $8,527,639.00 on its Nixon line is the earlier race total plus that day’s $1,310,380.00, so neither is a per-candidate figure (FEC; our arithmetic). Reuters’ Oct. 1 count, “$4.9 million attacking Nixon over the past two weeks, accounting for roughly 87% of all spending in the race,” matches the PAC’s filed total at that point, $4,874,341, and the Tampa Bay Times’ Sept. 24 figure, $2.7 million, matches its total a week earlier, $2,693,168 (Reuters; Tampa Bay Times; FEC).

New Deal for All is spending in four Senate races. Its eight FEC rows, all dated Oct. 14 or 16, total $5,683,512.35, of which $3,096,631.18, about 54%, is against Moody; the rest is against Sen. Roger W. Marshall of Kansas ($908,610.17), Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi ($481,500.00) and Sen. Darline Graham of South Carolina ($1,196,771.00) (FEC filings 2026573 and 2028741; our sums). The FEC record names the South Carolina target as “Graham, Darline”; the Times reports she was appointed after her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, died this summer (FEC; The New York Times). In the FEC’s 2026 bulk file as pulled Oct. 18, New Deal for All is the largest outside spender against Moody; the next largest listed against her is Black Voters Matter Action PAC at $100,000, and the largest spender supporting her is Stronger Safer Nation (FEC bulk file; our analysis).

How it works

Outside groups that spend independently of a campaign can report the spending before they report the donors. New Deal for All’s two filings so far are 24-hour independent-expenditure reports: each lists the ad buy, the payee, the candidate opposed and a running aggregate, and neither carries a donor list (FEC filings 2026573, 2028741). For quarterly filers, the FEC’s Pre-General report closes Oct. 14 and is due Oct. 22, and a quarterly-filing PAC must file it only if it made contributions or expenditures in connection with the election during the period (FEC). We have not confirmed whether New Deal for All files monthly or quarterly, so we do not say when its donors will appear.

What could still stop it

Several things here rest on one source or none. The tie between Pajcic and New Deal for All rests on the Times alone; Raw Story and the Magnolia Tribune rewrite the Times, and the FEC names no donor (The New York Times; Raw Story; Magnolia Tribune; FEC). Griffin is one donor among several to Stronger Safer Nation: his $2.5 million is about a fifth of the roughly $12 million Reuters says the PAC has raised, and $6.7 million came from a Florida state PAC Reuters does not name (Reuters; our arithmetic). Other outside groups also spend in the race (FEC bulk file). We have not seen the content of New Deal’s Florida ad.

Both sides are on the record. “Aaron Whitehad, a strategist for the independent super PAC, said it was formed in 2025 for the sole purpose of supporting Moody, so ‘it should not come as a surprise’ that it is spending money on her campaign,” Reuters reported; “Moody’s campaign and Griffin’s office did not respond to requests for comment” (Reuters). Nixon’s campaign manager, Eunic Epstein-Ortiz, said, “Billionaires dropping money on unelected Ashley Moody is nothing new, but maybe it’s happening more frantically right now because they’re clearly terrified of our people-powered movement” (Reuters). Moody was appointed to the seat in January 2025 after Marco Rubio became secretary of state, and as of Oct. 1 the race was still rated “Safe Republican” or “Solid Republican” by major forecasters, Reuters reported (Reuters).

Why it matters across Florida

Two Florida fortunes are now on opposite sides of a statewide Senate race that forecasters rated safe: a super PAC backed by Citadel founder Ken Griffin for the appointed incumbent, and, by the Times’ account, a new group funded by a Florida trial lawyer’s family against her (Reuters; The New York Times). The spending reports show where the money went, not all of where it came from, so neither side’s total is the whole picture yet (FEC).

What to watch

New Deal for All’s first report listing its donors, and whether it confirms the Pajcic family’s money (FEC; The New York Times). More 24-hour reports as Florida ads air (FEC). The FEC Pre-General reports due Oct. 22 for quarterly filers (FEC). Any comment from New Deal for All or the Moody campaign on New Deal’s ads. Early voting from Oct. 24, earlier in some counties, and the Nov. 3 general election (s. 101.657).