Rep. Angie Nixon discusses U.S. Senate campaign

It's less than two weeks away now until Election Day. We continue to talk to a number of candidates as they kind of are in the home stretches of their campaigns right now. I had the chance to sit down with State Representative Angie Nixon, a Democrat from Jacksonville who is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate running against Republican Ashley Moody. I talked with Angie Nixon about the state of the campaign and a number of policy positions as well. Representative Nixon, we really appreciate you joining us in studio here today. A lot of things I want to talk with you about, but the first thing I want to is just talk to me about what you're doing in the campaign right now. I know you've been busy holding a number of events across the state, bringing in folks, some high-profile guests as well. Just talk to me about how the campaign's going right now. Yeah, the campaign is having a monumental last few weeks, and we've had a ton of rallies with thousands and thousands of people. And what I like about it is not just rallies with Democrats. It's actually rallies with members of the Republican Party as well as independents that have been showing up because they are ready for change. They are tired of this culture of corruption with people like Ashley Moody, who instead of ensuring, you know, these insurance companies pay out claims for natural disasters and hurricane impacting their homes, that she instead just allowed them to run, run rampant because she received tens of thousands of dollars from them because of their donations to her campaign coffers. But people are excited about this campaign. We actually out-fundraised my primary opponent during this last quarter by nearly $2 million. And the momentum is great. People are ready. They're excited. We're knocking on doors. We're making phone calls. We're continuing to host rallies, and we're going to win this thing. You had Bernie Sanders with you this past weekend, AOC coming with you, embracing some folks who may, that is surprising, I think, to some people who may be watching this to say, wow, she's not running away from some of these ties, but embracing them. How do you respond to that? I am not running away from anyone. We need a diverse coalition of people to help take down this corrupt, fascist, rising authoritarian administration of Donald Trump, which my opponent, Ashley Moody, has rubber stamped every single thing. Yesterday, I was in an event with over 100, nearly 200 workers with Senator Bill Nelson. And right. And so I'm excited about the opportunity to bring more people in. You know, unelected Ashley Moody, my opponent, Ashley Moody, is working less and less and less. Meanwhile, she's getting richer. She's sitting on committees where she's having the opportunity to trade stocks, which has enriched her to the tune of about two million. And people on the outside are looking at her like, oh, my gosh, I'm working harder than ever. And I'm still struggling just to stay afloat. And so when I go to the United States Senate, I'm going to do things like banning congressional stock trading because we should not be able to enrich ourselves as elected officials. I am also going to work to lower people's costs and put more money in people's pockets by repealing some of these, you know, working family taxes that Ashley Moody, OK, due to Donald Trump, which are tariffs. Right. I also want to ensure that we wind ourselves out of this war in Iran, which is driving up our prices for gas and diesel and driving up our grocery store prices. Did you know that the public sub went up? The cost went up. It's insane. And people are very upset about that. And it's just going to continue to be exacerbated if we keep people like Ashley Moody in office. You talk about affordability, and we know that is a major issue. One of the things that you've expressed support for is raising minimum wage to $25 an hour. How do you respond to folks who say, well, that's something that could end up backfiring that it could end up resulting in job losses, could further raise costs. How do you respond to that? So what I would tell people is they like to say, oh, it's going to lead to inflation. And I say, everything is going up except wages. And people are honestly having to work more while getting paid less. And so there is a way in which we can incrementally raise the wages, similar to what we did here in the state of Florida. We just went up to $15 an hour last month, and I was one of the statewide organizers that helped lead to that minimum wage increase. And so we did it incrementally. It wasn't something that was done overnight. Now, when it comes to, like, the big billion-dollar companies and the huge major corporations, we will demand that they raise and increase people's minimum wage to $25 right off the bat. But when it comes to the small mom and pop shops, it'll be something incremental and we could potentially have a fund in which we could tap into to help supplement them until they're able to take on those costs as businesses. But look, when you increase employees minimum wage, they're happier, they treat your guests and your customers better, and they come back more, and they have more disposable income to spend even more money with mom and pop shops. And so it's just a win-win all across the board. We can't keep allowing these big corporations that already don't pay their workers what they owe, that already don't pay the amount of taxes they should be paying to help. We shouldn't allow them to lead the narrative on this. They're trying to get richer. Meanwhile, they are spending their CEOs are spending money trying to figure out who can get farther in space faster, but they don't want to pay their employees. And yet they have trainings where they hire new staffers and then they show them how to navigate applying for benefits like Medicaid and TANF and SNAP or food stamps. And it's like you're literally a billion dollar company. Why aren't you paying your workers a living wage? They are the ones that are keeping your your business afloat. And so, you know, that's why I'm pushing for the minimum wage. And that's why I'm pushing for huge accountability. If you're elected, you would represent, you know, obviously not just those who voted for you, but those who who didn't as well. There's a lot of Republicans in the state. I should note that this new UNF poll that just came out shows that there is a percentage of Republicans who support you, which is interesting to see. But, you know, how would you what is your message? You know, how would you represent Republicans who who voted for you or didn't in Congress? How do you represent the entire state of Florida? We know that we know there are a lot of Republicans in this state. How would you represent them as well if elected to Senate? I would represent them the same way that I'm representing them now as a state representative. You would not believe the amount of people that call my office because they can't get a hold of Ashley Moody or Rick Scott or any of their Republican lawmakers. And we help them navigate the system. Oftentimes people reach out to my office because they reach out to elected officials offices because we are their last hope, their last resort. And so I am going to be accessible for them. I am going to make sure that I have in-person town hall meetings like I always do. I am going to create an advisory committee like I have right now all across the state that is comprised of people who are Republicans, independents, Democrats, people who don't even vote, black, white, Asian, you know, whatever religion they worship, like Hispanics. and like allow them to help inform the policies that I craft, allow them to help inform me in regards to the bills I vote for, the bills that I'm against. Because at the end of the day, I work for the people like I work for you. I don't work for these big corporations like Ashley Moody does. Again, there are tons and tons of families who have not even rebuilt their homes because their insurance companies refuse to pay out their claims. They refuse, they're slow walking the process. And Ashley Moody had every opportunity to do something about that as the Attorney General. She did not hold them accountable. And she has every opportunity now as a U.S. Senator to hold them accountable. But she won't because she's receiving millions of dollars from them into her campaigns and into the associated PACs. And so she is someone that likes to put profits and corporations before people, and I like to put people first. And then on top of that, knowing with this whole Florida scandal, $10 million that was supposed to go to war, sick kids, and Ashley Moody's, her office as attorney general signed off on that rerouting and redirection of that money. And her reward was this appointment to this U.S. Senate seat. It is very disgusting and like ridiculous that there's so much corruption that is happening. And now, you know, Ron DeSantis and James Utmeyer are going after a news stations for running ads about it. And then they had this DCA file this this this make this statement about like they shouldn't have ever the grand jury shouldn't have ever released things and all these findings. But knowing that Ron DeSantis appointed him is like they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. And then now they're like, oh, there is no cookie jar and there is no hand. And it's like it is so ridiculous. And she needs to be able to speak for that. But she refuses. She won't even debate me. She won't even answer tough questions at town hall meetings or at press conferences. She runs away when tough questions start coming up. I am okay with answering questions. I am okay with having hard conversations because that pushes us forward. Are there specific issues that you'd be prepared to maybe break with the National Democratic Party on if elected to Senate? There's a lot of Democrats that don't support things like Medicare for all. But look, a recent Yale study came out that said that Medicare for all would save us a trillion dollars annually. It would not result in an increase in taxes or anything like that um it would save us a trillion dollars annually even like because we're paying the cost of it now with people still having to pay co-pays and deductibles but that would go away under Medicare for all um and it would also save 100 over 114,000 lives don't believe me believe this Yale study that recently came out right um i also support abolishing for-profit prisons um i believe that there is a concerted effort to defund public education so that our children can be pushed into the school to prison pipeline into these for-profit prisons where they can have their labor exploited at very low cost low not low cost but they're they won't pay these folks and they're like using their labor for free and so um i don't think everyone believes in abolishing for-profit prisons and so I have also have a record of you know sometimes being only the only person uh that votes a certain way or just one or two of us that vote a certain way uh in the state legislature because I'm always thinking about how is this going to impact my constituents how are they going to feel is this going to be a cost associated with them so I put people first, but I am willing to just do whatever I need to do to enhance and improve the quality of life of Floridians. I know we're running out of time. Just a couple more quick things for you here, Rebekah, and I appreciate it. If you're elected to Senate, you would also have to vote on things like national security policy, defense appropriations, foreign aid, foreign policy, things like that. Yes. What sort of key principles would guide your approach when it comes to votes like that? Because that's not necessarily something we talk a lot about. Yeah, my key principles are um making sure that we are thoughtful um making sure that we're scrutinizing every dollar that goes outside of this country but also making sure that we are embarking on national security and we're not complicit in people committing war crimes so like that is what drives me like how is this impacting the the people right and so but i we need to scrutinize everything the Department of Defense has failed every audit that they've ever done like that's a problem as a as a as a mom i have to make sure that like i can account for my money or i'm gonna not be able to keep a roof over my kids heads or the lights on and so um we need to be more thoughtful there's no like we see how haphazardly Donald Trump does things they went into this war in Iran they said it was only going to be a few weeks it turned out it's getting close to a year now and they've spent over 60 billion dollars and so we have to be more thoughtful in the approach and we have to listen to the national security advisors which is everything that Trump has not been doing and so Ashley Moody has rubber stamped this war in Iran she wants to keep sending money over there. She doesn't care if it winds down or not because, I mean, those defense contractors and her family and friends and her campaign donors, they're making money. Last thing here, I just want to ask you about the kind of political moment that we're in. It's interesting. I know James Fishback attended one of your rallies recently. He has not said that he supported you, but he has not endorsed Ashley Moody. He has not endorsed Byron Donald's in the governor's race and says that he expects some voters who voted for him in the in the primary to to potentially vote for David Jolly. And so I'm just curious if some of these issues that you are talking about that some others are talking about kind of transcend the typical Republican and Democratic lines. And we may see maybe some new coalitions forming. I know. Yeah. So, again, I am running to be a United States senator for all of Florida. I am not running to just represent Democrats or Republicans or independents. I'm running to represent everyone and I'm speaking to everyone. And look, I am willing to have conversations with people. I'm trying to change people's hearts and minds and to create a new vision for this country where everyone, everyone has the opportunity to be healthy, to be prosperous, to be safe, to experience joy and rest. And that is that is what drives me. Those are the values that I keep and move forward on. And Republicans understand that Republicans understand. and I am a hometown girl, born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. This is a North Florida draw. OK. And so they know that I will always put the the Floridians ahead of myself and ahead of these corporations that are trying to keep us down. Representative Angie Nixon, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Thanks so much for taking the time. Thank you for having me. And I should also note that we have issued or excuse me, we have put in a request with the Ashley Moody campaign extended the same opportunity for an interview with her as well. So we are waiting to hear back on that.