Angie Nixon, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Florida, met with voters in Riviera Beach on Monday night, appearing alongside Mayor Douglas Lawson at a lively campaign event. The stop came just days after former President Barack Obama endorsed her over the weekend.
Nixon described her approach as putting "people over profit, people over politics, and people over party," in comments to WLRN. She said she was mostly out having conversations with residents, adding that "everyone is hurting right now for the most part, unless you're super ultra wealthy."
A progressive state representative from Jacksonville, Nixon was first elected to the Florida House in 2020. She stunned political analysts and the Democratic establishment in August by beating retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman in the primary. Vindman had outraised her by more than 16-to-1, while Nixon collected less than $1 million.
She now faces Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who was appointed to the seat after Marco Rubio was named Secretary of State by President Donald Trump. An average of polls tracked by RealClearPolitics shows Moody ahead with about a week remaining before the Nov. 3 election.
In a video message backing Nixon, Obama praised her readiness to stand on the "front lines," pointing to her record of community organizing for a $15 minimum wage and protesting state redistricting maps. "Angie Nixon and I both got our start as organizers," he said. "It taught us something important: Real change starts when regular folks stand up for what's right."
Nixon supports universal health care and free child care. She is also calling for a federal moratorium on AI data centers until their effects on local electricity and water resources are studied. "I love innovation, but not at the detriment of people, the environment, and folks' wellbeing or their jobs," she said.
Moody and other Republicans have attacked Nixon over her membership in the Democratic Socialists of America, which she joined in June. The group does not appear to have endorsed her campaign. Asked by reporters how her views compare with the organization's, Nixon has said she agrees with many of its policies but not all. "I don't fully align with anybody's full platform 100%, not even the Democratic Party," she told WLRN on Aug. 19.
In an interview last Friday on WLRN's Florida Roundup, Nixon told host Carlton Gillespie that it is the media and political pundits, not Florida voters, who keep raising her DSA ties. She said voters ask her "how are you going to make my life better, how are you going to lower these rising costs, how are you going to help me put more money in my pocket."
