AOC stumps for Angie Nixon in Central Florida before election day

U.S. House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), arguably one of the most high-profile politicians in the country, joined Florida’s U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon for a “Boricuas for Angie” rally in Kissimmee Tuesday night to highlight Nixon’s commitment to policies that she believes will enrich the lives of Florida’s Hispanic and Latino communities.

Nixon, a progressive state lawmaker from Jacksonville, is running to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody in the Nov. 3 general election.

She’s campaigning on a universal healthcare system through Medicare for All, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), getting corporate super-PACs out of the campaign finance system, and fighting for a $25 federal minimum wage.

“Many of us are feeling the power of this moment, and the weight of this moment, and the stakes of this moment,” said Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive who landed her own upset victory in 2018 against one of the most powerful establishment Democrats in the country at just 29 years old.

“Each and every one of you is a seed of hope here in the state of Florida, and Angie Nixon is a shining beacon of that hope of what’s possible,” she said, as a diverse audience of about 300 kids, teenagers and adults roared in agreement. 

Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Nixon in September, shortly after Nixon advanced from the August primary election. Both are members of the Democratic Socialists of America, although Nixon has openly rejected several of the group’s policy positions, including DSA’s support for defunding the police and abolishing prisons.

“Ashley Moody likes to say I want to defund the police or abolish prison. And I tell people, like, why would I want to do that when I want her arrested and locked up?” Nixon told a group of farmworkers at a roundtable in Apopka earlier this month, referring to Moody’s role as Florida Attorney General in the diversion of $10 million of taxpayer funds to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political agenda in 2024.

Orlando U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, Puerto Rican actor Wilson Cruz, retiring New York Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez — the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress in 1992 — and other community and union leaders joined the progressive pair at the Osceola Heritage Park events center, alternating between English and Spanish as they appealed to the crowd.

“Kissimmee, are you ready to kick Ashley Moody out of the Senate and elect Angie Nixon?” Frost asked, receiving roaring cheers in response. Frost himself is of Puerto Rican and Haitian descent, but was born and raised in Orlando. He became the first Gen-Z member of Congress through his first run for Congress in 2022.

“In the richest country on the face of the earth, we all deserve guaranteed healthcare from the time we are born,” said Frost, to shouts of agreement. “In the richest country on the face of the earth, no one should sleep on the streets — housing is a human right.”

“The reason you can’t afford your rent has nothing to do with the immigrant that lives next door,” he continued. “The reason your groceries cost so much has nothing to do with the trans person who lives down the street. In fact, I’ll tell you this: All your bank accounts look pretty similar and far away from Donald Trump’s.”

“My brother in Christ, you are closer to living on the streets than being Elon Musk,” he quipped, referring to the tech billionaire and Trump mega-donor who’s poured at least $442 million so far into political campaigns this election cycle alone.

“My brother in Christ, you are closer to living on the streets than being Elon Musk.”

U.S. House Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL)

Attendees of the three-hour rally ranged in age, from kids puttering around with their parents to young people in their 20s and 30s to older adults who told Orlando Weekly they’re drawn to Nixon’s campaign in part because of her support for Medicare for All. 

“I canvassed for Bernie [Sanders] years ago, and a lot of her policies reflect the same policies that Bernie has been echoing for 30 years,” said Margaret, a retired nurse who traveled to Kissimmee Tuesday from Safety Harbor — a nearly two-hour drive. 

“I’ve seen her give speeches, and she does it from the heart,” she added, noting that as an “old Jacksonville girl” herself, she’s familiar with Nixon’s history. “She’s always been a fighter for the people.”

Nixon, a former union organizer and mother of five, scored an upset victory in the Democratic primary election in August, besting U.S. Army veteran Alex Vindman, a centrist Democrat who was widely considered the likely victor. 

Nixon still has an uphill battle to fight against Moody, a tough-on-crime Republican and Trump ally who was appointed — not elected — to the U.S. Senate last year by DeSantis to fill the vacancy left by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In Moody’s favor, the Republican Party has a 1.5 million voter registration advantage in Florida over Democrats, and that gap has only continued to widen in the last several years.

A recent survey by the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Lab found 49 percent support among voters for Moody, while about 45 percent of voters polled said they’d vote for Nixon. Another 5 percent remain undecided. 

Still, the poll also suggests Nixon may have an in with independent voters, who favor Nixon over Moody by 15 percentage points. At least 10 percent of Republicans polled by the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Lab also say they plan to vote for Nixon.

“No matter how we got here to this moment, we are all facing the same things now,” Nixon shared Tuesday night. “No matter if we look different, or who we love, or how we pray, we are more similar than not. Because we all want our loved ones to be healthy, to be prosperous, to be safe, and to be free. We know what it means to work hard, to fight for your family, and to never forget where we come from.”

Moody has the full backing of President Donald Trump, who’s currently enjoying the lowest approval rating of any U.S. president heading into a midterm election since 1946.

Trump’s tariffs, his decision to enter into a $1-billion-a-day war with Iran (without congressional approval), and his stark determination to build a $600 million White House ballroom while 60 percent of Americans report living paycheck-to-paycheck isn’t sitting well with U.S. voters.

Democrats, including Nixon, hope that voters will think of their struggles over the last two years of Trump’s second term in the White House as they head to the polls for early voting this week and for Election Day itself next Tuesday.

“Are you ready to put an end to the corruption that’s driving up our prices and making it harder for our families to get ahead?” Nixon asked her audience. “Well, I’m ready too, and I’m ready to go to Washington, D.C., to fight for you. I am ready to take our state back from the 30 years of politicians who care more about putting money in their pockets than putting money back in yours, y’all.”