Vermont independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has endorsed Democrat Angie Nixon in her battle for the U.S. Senate versus Republican Ashley Moody in November.
“Angie’s campaign is proof that Florida voters are looking for candidates who will fight for them and who will take on the greed of the billionaire class,” he said Tuesday in a written statement.
“This is the future of the Democratic Party. They say Florida is a red state. I don’t believe that’s true. Working people all over this country — in red states, in blue states, in the North, and in the South — are sick and tired of status quo politics and status quo policies. They want change, real change.”
Nixon defeated retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman by 12 points in the Democratic primary for Senate, despite being vastly outspent.
Sanders noted that Nixon is a union organizer who worked on his 2016 presidential candidacy.
“She understands, as I do, that healthcare is a human right, that no one working full time should live in poverty, and that billionaires must finally pay their fair share of taxes,” he said.
“She has been a champion for canceling medical debt, expanding childcare, guaranteeing paid family leave, and building an economy that works for the many, not the few. Her decades of experience as an organizer enabled her to build a powerful grassroots campaign — a rainbow coalition of labor and community groups.”
“Senator Bernie Sanders has been a champion for working people his entire career, and I’m proud to have stood alongside him in 2016 and to carry that fight forward today,” said Nixon.
“I believe in the same fundamental principle that has guided Bernie for decades: government should work for working people, not billionaires and corporations. That means Medicare for All, affordable childcare, housing we can actually afford, and an economy where every person can live with dignity. I’m deeply honored to have Bernie’s support, because this campaign is about more than one election, it’s about building the America of our dreams.”
Nixon was elected to the Florida House in 2020 and has been known as one of the most progressive members of the Florida Legislature. It was only this summer that she said she had joined the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a designation that has divided parts of the Florida and national Democratic Party. In winning Tuesday, she became the first member of the organization to win a primary for the Senate.
Moody, appointed to her seat last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is running for the first time as a sitting senator. She has won election statewide twice as Florida’s attorney general, in 2018 and 2022.
In remarks Tuesday night after she secured the Republican nomination, Moody took aim at Nixon’s DSA affiliation.
“My opponent, self-proclaimed socialist Angie Nixon, is campaigning with members of the Socialist Squad and running on an agenda to defund our police, abolish our prisons and military, and raise your taxes,” she said. “This race will determine Florida’s future — between a free and prosperous Sunshine State and one that turns into bread lines and empty shelves.”
In an interview on MS Now’s “Morning Joe”Wednesday, Nixon said she does not support defunding the police nor abolishing prisons. Instead, she said she supports abolishing for-profit prisons.
