Nixon’s supporters say she is ready for Washington
State Rep. Angie Nixon got a boost from three energized Central Florida Democrats who are endorsing her ahead of next month’s U.S. Senate Democratic Primary.
By Gabrielle Russon
(Florida Politics)
U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, state Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis and state Rep. Anna Eskamani say they are supporting Nixon as she faces off against former Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman in the Aug. 18 Primary. The winner meets Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody in her first test before voters after she was appointed last year.
“This moment demands not just another politician, but it demands a fighter,” said Frost, an Orlando Democrat whose community organizing helped make him the first member of Generation Z to serve in Congress, as he led campaign supporters in chanting Nixon’s name.
“I’m just so proud to stand here and endorse her today because this is what we need. We see around the entire country Democrats standing up and saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ We are going to be the party that is for working people.”
For a moment, Nixon teared up and got emotional from the support during the press conference Friday at the IBEW Local 606 union hall outside of downtown Orlando.
Angie Nixon speaks July 24 in Orlando. Image via Gabrielle Russon.
Nixon’s supporters said she isn’t afraid to take tough questions — a dig at Vindman whom Nixon has been challenging to debate. Last week, Vindman said he hadn’t decided yet whether he will take Nixon’s offer to square off on the issues.
Nixon is battle-tested from her uphill fight as an outnumbered Democrat in the state Legislature and is ready to move the cause to Washington, D.C., her backers said.
“Angie is someone who is willing to fight even when she’s the only one standing up,” Eskamani said.
Nixon mentioned some of her priorities are free childcare, fighting for a $25 minimum wage and expanding Medicare. She also criticized the Iran War.
“We should make sure that we are putting Floridians and Americans first before we go into endless wars of choice that make Donald Trump’s son-in-law even richer.”
Nixon has been making headlines for getting arrested protesting at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office and using her bullhorn on the House floor. Her pink bullhorn rested at her feet during the Orlando press conference.
Nixon downplayed the idea that she is too progressive to win over the independent voters and frustrated Republicans, demographics that any Democrat candidate needs to take down a Republican incumbent.
“To beat an extremist like Ashley Moody, it is going to take us coming together and not being divided. It is going to take moderates and conservatives and progressives,” Nixon said. “We actually have independents and Republicans that changed their party affiliation to vote for me in the Primary.”
Frost quipped that Nixon’s words “might get her uninvited from a few dinners. It might piss off a few corporate lobbyists, but she doesn’t care.”
