Ashley Wells Cox

Ashley Wells Cox is a judge of the Florida 4th Circuit Court. She assumed office on January 7, 2025. Her current term ends on January 7, 2031.

Wells Cox won election for judge of the Florida 4th Circuit Court outright in the primary on August 20, 2024, after the general election was canceled.

Wells Cox completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Ashley Wells Cox was born in Orlando, Florida. She graduated from West Orange High School. She earned a bachelor's degree from Duke University in 1997 and a law degree from Northwestern School of Law in 2002. Her career experience includes working as an attorney and guardian ad litem volunteer attorney.^[1]

Cox has been affiliated with the following organizations:^[1]

Providence School of Jacksonville Parent Council
Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry Food Pantry
Jacksonville Bar Association
United States District Court, Middle District of Florida
Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association
Florida Family Law Inn of Court
Chester Bedell Inn of Court

Elections

2024

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Florida 4th Circuit Court

Ashley Wells Cox won election outright against Nancy Cleaveland in the primary for Florida 4th Circuit Court on August 20, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Ashley Wells Cox (Nonpartisan)	53.7	88,501
	Nancy Cleaveland (Nonpartisan)	46.3	76,427

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 164,928
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Wells Cox in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Ashley Wells Cox completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wells Cox's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My diverse legal experience, my academic achievements, and my life-long commitment to public service qualify me to help voters as the best candidate running for Circuit Judge. I graduated magna cum laude from Duke University and top ten percent of my class from Northwestern law school. Between college and law school, I volunteered for two years with the Inner-City Teaching Corps teaching on the south side of Chicago. After law school, I wanted to continue work in the public interest, so I applied for and received a two-year Skadden Fellowship to practice at Atlanta Legal Aid Society where I designed and implemented a consumer advocacy project representing low-income consumers taken advantage of by predatory lending practices. From Atlanta, I moved to Jacksonville and became an Assistant State Attorney, prosecuting misdemeanor and felony cases and I worked on a high-profile grand jury investigation. In 2006, I joined the Bedell firm practicing criminal defense, administrative law, and representing lawyers before The Florida Bar, and for the last eight years I have focused primarily on family law. I continued my service to the community by becoming a volunteer Guardia ad Litem and I volunteered weekly at the Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministries. I am the chair of the Providence School Parent Council, a past chair of the Atlantic Beach Elementary School Advisory Council, and a past president of Friends of Atlantic Beach Elementary.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Integrity and Impartiality – If elected, I will treat everyone with dignity and respect and apply the law equally to all people.
Protecting Individual Rights - I will listen to the citizens that appear before me, study the law diligently, and ensure that the rights of citizens are enforced pursuant to the laws and the Constitution.
Upholding the Constitution and the Laws of the State of Florida – I will faithfully and strictly apply the law in the State of Florida and the Constitution. It is not the job of the judiciary to make the laws – that is the role of the legislature. The separation of powers is crucial to our democracy.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about serving the community in every way. Judges need to not just be seen on the bench but also in the community working with citizens to make lives better.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

My father, Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Wells (1994-2009), was a brilliant, hard-working, jurist who operated with integrity and applied the law as it was written. He was universally respected as a judge by all parties and colleagues. I hope to emulate his legal ability and service to the state of Florida.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, integrity, strong work ethic, and intelligence.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

A Circuit Court Judge must be a strong student of the law, understand the Constitution, and statutes. The Judge must then apply those laws to the facts of the cases before the Judge. A Judge must be impartial and not allow personal feelings to interfere with decisions and treat everyone equally under the law. A Judge must be a good listener and make sure every voice is heard. The cases may not turn out the way everyone wants, but each person needs to know that he or she were heard and treated with dignity and respect.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would hope to be remembered as a Judge who served with integrity, intelligence, fairness and impartiality; a Judge who listened, worked hard and treated everyone with dignity and respect.

Have you ever been rated by a Bar Association? If so, what was the rating?

Martindale Hubbell AV rated

What is your primary concern about today's legal system in your state?

We need to work on equal access to justice. There are so many people that may need help through the judicial system that cannot afford to effectively participate. Imagine if you are the victim of a fraud but do not have the resources to navigate the legal system to seek recourse, or the victim of domestic violence, or the victim of a crime. The judicial system is crucial to our democracy, and we must work towards equal access to justice.

Would you be interested in serving on a higher court in the future? If so, which court appeals to you?

No, I enjoy being in the trial court and do not anticipate trying to move to an appellate level.

Do you believe that Bar Association ratings are an accurate reflection of a judge’s ability?

Not always. Unfortunately, the peer ratings and bar ratings can be skewed by marketing efforts so they do not always accurately reflect a lawyer's ability.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Jacksonville Association of Firefighters
The Past Presidents of The Florida Bar from the Fourth Judicial Circuit (Mr. John DeVault, Mr. Howard Coker, Mr. Henry Coxe, III, Mr. Mike Tanner, and Mr. Rut Liles).

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Judges must comply with the strict ethical obligations of financial disclosures so that there is no question of financial bias. Transparency is vitally important to maintaining the public's trust in the judiciary.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Florida 4th Circuit Court

Personal

Footnotes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 21, 2024

Florida courts

Federal courts:

Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida

State courts:

Florida Supreme Court • Florida District Courts of Appeal • Florida Circuit Court • Florida County Court

State resources:

Courts in Florida • Florida judicial elections • Judicial selection in Florida

[bio-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 21, 2024

[1]

	v • e State of Florida Tallahassee (capital)
Elections	What's on my ballot? \| Elections in 2025 \| How to vote \| How to run for office \| Ballot measures
Government	Who represents me? \| U.S. President \| U.S. Congress \| Federal courts \| State executives \| State legislature \| State and local courts \| Counties \| Cities \| School districts \| Public policy

Ashley Wells Cox

Contents

Biography

Elections

2024

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Florida 4th Circuit Court

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

Additional analysis

SITE NAVIGATION