One-on-one with Angie Nixon

All right, we're here with State Representative Angie Nixon and also, of course, Senate candidate Angie Nixon. Believe it or not, there are things more important than politics, and today is certainly one of those days. Representative, first of all, what are your thoughts for people up on the panhandle right now? And what would you say to anybody watching right now who's in that area who's trying to prepare? Yeah, for sure. So my thoughts and prayers are with them, and I want them to be safe. I want them to know that I am actively working to help provide support. I am in conversations right now with with leaders and lawmakers over in Duval County, because what we're hearing is that there are people that are evacuating to come to the area and they may not have money for shelters or, you know, to go to hotel rooms or they may not have friends and family that they can stay with. And so we're trying to see if we could possibly get a shelter open if that happens, if we continue to see like an influx of folks. And then I also want them to know that we are actively I am actively working in my official capacity with lawmakers across the state, like Representative Rainier, Commissioner Jeremy Madlow and others across the state. former Commissioner Reggie Leon down in Miami Gardens to actually have mutual aid efforts and relief. We are going to be collecting items, water, supplies for folks that are going to be hit hard in the storm. So tell us how important these statewide networks are when it comes to getting resources to areas that are going to need them. These efforts, these statewide efforts are very important because unfortunately what we have seen with the federal government and even with our state um is that the relief by the government has not been sufficient enough i know that nearly 300 million dollars was cut um from the state of florida for the building resilience infrastructure and communities that would have helped mitigate a lot of issues before the storms and then um you Also, people are still suffering right now from previous storms over in this Tampa Bay area as well. And so it is something that we need to make sure we keep the pressure on. But I am not stopping and not relying upon the government right now. We're going to try to make sure people have what they need in a timely manner. What would you say to people who wonder, and we've all been in this situation as Floridians, What would you say to people who wonder if this is the time to listen to our local officials and our elected officials about whether it's time to evacuate? They need to always listen to their local officials. You just don't. I don't want anyone to take their lives for granted. Right. Like you just never know. There could be a hit on a tree and a tree falls and it can go through a roof. You just never know. Storm surge comes quickly. Storm surges come quickly. We are in low lying areas. You know, the majority of the state of Florida is, you know, under sea, below sea level. And so we need to just make sure I want people to know that we I am taking their lives seriously and I want them to do so. And if they need assistance, they should reach out to our offices. Me and Representative Rainier, as well as my office, who represents the St. Pete area. Also, you know, reach out to your local officials and ask them where you should evacuate. It is not often that we get to have the honor of having a Senate candidate in studio with just a few weeks to go. And so while politics is not as important this time as it as it normally would be, we do want to make sure we ask you about this. So I do want to ask. We've seen some polls over the last few days and they're all over the place. Some of them show a widespread. Some of them show that you're in a dead heat with Ashley Moody. So I want to ask you, what are you hearing and how close is this race right now? Where is it at? Yeah. So what we are hearing on the ground is that we are in a dead heat. And what our internal polling is saying is that we're in a dead heat. And that's because we're going out and we're having conversations with people. And even now, I have always been on the ground in times of natural disasters and storms. And so this isn't something that's new to me. Right. And so I want to kind of re-put the focus back on just, like, the issue at hand right now. Ashley Moody has been okay with these cuts to FEMA. And I know that nearly—and she's also been accepting insurance money. She's been accepting money from insurance companies to her campaign coffers, unfortunately. And what we see, she did that as attorney general. She's doing that now as the U.S. senator. And what we see is her failure to hold insurance companies accountable. There are still people who are dealing and fighting with insurance companies because they refuse to pay out their claims or they're slow walking their payments. Right. And so we need to make sure that we are electing someone who is going to put the citizens and who's going to put Floridians first. And that would actually be me. Just lastly, when all is said and done on this campaign season, I want to ask you, do you believe that this is going to be a referendum on the question of whether life is affordable here in the state of Florida and in the United States? Oh, absolutely. It's going to be not only a referendum on that, but a referendum on the fact that there's a lot of corruption and chaos that's coming out of Washington, D.C., as well as that's coming out of the state government. People are fed up. They are tired of working harder than ever and just struggling just to just to get by, barely struggling to get by. And then you have people like unelected scamming Ashley Moody. I'm just thinking about what happened with this whole Florida incident. And now all of a sudden the first DCA, which I believe some of those judges were appointed by Ron DeSantis. They're now trying to kind of push it out of the way and say, oh, no, that shouldn't have even been released. And so people are tired. They're seeing Ashley Moody and Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump work less and less and less and getting richer. and and they are they are they want something different they want someone that's going to put them first and i am the candidate for them all right representative angie nixon thanks so much for being with us we're certainly sending good luck to all to everybody up on the panhandle but also to people in your area who now you say may be receiving guests yes and we're going to certainly think about getting ways to get resources to them yes representative nixon thanks so much for being here thank you please look out for ways in which you can help donate to send relief over there to those folks in the panhandle. All right, Representative Nixon, thanks so much for sharing your views.