Ashley Wells Cox. [Provided by the candidate]

Ashley Wells Cox was elected to Florida’s 4th Judicial Circuit Court on Tuesday against Nancy Cleaveland.

Though judge elections are nonpartisan, Cleaveland campaigned on conservative messaging while Cox emphasized her broad legal experience. 

Cox, a former prosecutor, will now handle a wide range of cases from felony criminal trials to complex civil litigation and family law matters. The 4th Judicial Circuit covers Duval, Clay, and Nassau counties, encompassing Jacksonville and its surrounding areas.

Cox earned 53% of the vote to Cleaveland’s 47%.

She will serve a six-year term on the circuit court, and wield considerable influence over a wide range of legal matters, from determining guilt in serious criminal cases to resolving complex civil disputes and making decisions that impact families and children.

While serving as an assistant state attorney, Cox was chosen by then-State Attorney Harry Shorstein to lead a high-profile grand jury investigation into the Jacksonville Shipyards project. The investigation, which lasted six months, examined the City of Jacksonville’s management of the $36.5 million Shipyards redevelopment deal and possible misuse of public funds.

That investigation helped spark ethics reforms in Jacksonville’s local government, including the creation of a new city ethics officer.

Since 2006, Cox has been with the Bedell Firm, where she initially practiced criminal defense before heading up the firm’s family law practice.

Five former presidents of The Florida Bar from the Fourth Judicial Circuit threw their support behind Cox, along with the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters.

Nichole Manna is The Tributary’s criminal justice reporter. You can reach her at nichole.manna@floridatrib.org or on Twitter at @NicholeManna.

Nichole Manna is The Florida Trib's Senior Investigative Reporter. She has been with the organization since 2023 and has covered the criminal justice system for more than a decade.

Nichole has extensively covered conditions at the Duval County jail and in 2024 received first place from the Green Eyeshade Awards in online investigations for her reporting of medical neglect at the facility. That series of stories was recognized with awards at the local, regional and national level. She took home the first place prize for a feature story in a small newsroom from the Online Journalism Awards in 2025 for her series, ‘Cold-Blooded’, which dissected a 1993 death penalty case and questioned whether the defendant received a fair trial.

Prior to joining The Trib, Nichole was an investigative reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas where she was a Livingston Award finalist for a series of stories about a neighborhood with the lowest life expectancy in the state. Her work helped get residents access to free pop-up clinics and they continue to receive help with food disparities.

She is currently working with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network to produce an investigative project.

You can reach her at nichole@floridatrib.org.