Angie Nixon at St Pete Pride on June 27. (Photo by Azlyn Cato)
Bernie Sanders will take his Fighting Oligarchy Tour to the Sunshine State this weekend, when he will hold four campaign events with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon across Central and North Florida.
The Vermont independent senator, one of the leaders of the progressive movement in the United States, endorsed Nixon in her contest against Republican Sen. Ashley Moody last month and has donated $250,000 from his political committee to her campaign.
Nixon, a Jacksonville state representative, in August defeated Alex Vindman in the Democratic primary, despite being massively out-fundraised. She faces similar fundraising challenges against Moody.
The RealClearPolling average of the Florida Senate race shows Moody up by roughly seven points over Nixon, 49%-42%.
Sanders is not the only Washington Democrat making a trip to Florida to campaign with Nixon.
Connecticut U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, both of whom are considering runs for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028, also intend to hit the campaign trail with Nixon in Orlando.
Murphy will campaign with Nixon on Oct. 14 and Khanna will campaign with her on Oct. 20.
“I do believe that we’d make a big mistake if we slept on Florida,” Murphy told Politico last week, adding that he intends to push to raise some “serious money” for Nixon’s campaign. “I know it feels like a longer shot, but I just think this year is looking exceptional.”
Sanders’ itinerary in Florida includes stops in Tampa and Melbourne on Saturday, Oct. 17, and Gainesville and Tallahassee on Sunday, Oct. 18. It notably does not include any stops in South Florida, where Sanders’ comments praising Fidel Castro in 2020 received a strong backlash from some South Florida Democrats.
The Tampa Sanders/Nixon event will be held at the Cuban Club, which angered Dan Weldon, a Republican running for the House District 64 in Hillsborough County. He said it was “beyond disgusting that the Cuban Club in Tampa is hosting socialists Bernie Sanders & Angie Nixon.”
“The Cuban Club was founded for the benefit of Cuban-Americans,” he said in a Facebook post. “Tampa has one of the largest Cuban refugee populations in the country — people who lost everything due to socialism. Shame on the Cuban Club for allowing this.”
Punchbowl News reported Oct. 12 that Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries “hinted” in an interview that he might head to Florida before Election Day.
Moody will draw some Washington-based support later this week, as well. Senate Majority Leader John Thune will campaign with the Florida Republican sometime this week, Punchbowl News reported. No date or location was listed.
This story is courtesy of Florida Phoenix.
Florida Phoenix is a nonprofit news site, free of advertising and free to readers, covering state government and politics with a staff of five journalists located at the Florida Press Center in downtown Tallahassee. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
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