Senate Candidate Angie Nixon’s Rally in Tallahassee
During a rally in Tallahassee, Florida, Senate candidate Angie Nixon (D), a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), spoke enthusiastically about her past, including an arrest for protesting redistricting efforts. She unapologetically described herself as “radical as hell,” a label she’s embraced from critics.
Nixon, currently a state representative, is running against Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) for her U.S. Senate seat. She introduced herself as a former single mother and union organizer, emphasizing that she entered politics to tackle the corruption driving up costs for everyday people.
“Unlike Ashley Moody, I wasn’t appointed as a thank you for my loyalty to a corrupt system. I was elected to fight that corrupt system, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing in the state House,” she asserted, proudly recalling her arrest during a protest in May. “Y’all know I took out a pink bullhorn and shut those proceedings down. Sometimes, you gotta get in good trouble, necessary trouble. Y’all know they arrested me. Shameful,” she noted. “Before I was elected, I was out there organizing, helping workers, families, and those who felt unheard.”
Nixon expressed her frustration with corrupt politicians like Moody, stating, “I’m tired of watching them get richer while we work harder and still struggle.” She framed her views as simply advocating for decent livelihoods, despite critics calling them “radical.”
If believing that a mother working two jobs should earn enough to feed her family is radical, then call me a radical. If believing that seniors who worked their entire lives should retire with dignity is radical, then so be it. If we believe that kids with cancer should get the treatment they need, regardless of their parents’ finances, or that no family should face bankruptcy due to medical costs is extreme, then yes, call me radical.
“We are going to send a working-class union organizer to the United States Senate,” she declared, notably downplaying her socialist label during the event, only mentioning it once. Nixon pointed out that Moody deems her common-sense proposals as extreme, saying, “Someone said it’s easier to call me names than to explain why she keeps voting to make life harder for working people.”
Nixon, who features images of figures like Assata Shakur in her cafe/bookstore called “Cafe Resistance,” has sought to distance herself from a strictly socialist identity, even while aligning with many progressive issues like universal health care.
Interestingly, she once attributed a nosebleed to the stress of working with Republican colleagues in the state House.
