Angie Nixon Is Running to Make History While Facing Trial for Voting Rights Protest

Angie Nixon has spent more than two decades advocating for Black and working-class communities in Florida. But the Jacksonville native didn’t make a splash on the national stage until she stunned many in her bid to become the state’s first Black senator.

The Democratic Socialist trounced her better-funded opponent Alex Vindman in Florida’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. She did so at a time of intense debate over whether the party’s left flank, whose members have largely been winning their races, can continue to connect with voters ahead of the midterm elections in November. Centering issues such as Medicare for All in her platform, Nixon will compete against Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.

But Nixon’s surprise victory has come with a hitch that most Senate nominees don’t face: a criminal trial. She’s scheduled to stand trial the week of Sept. 21 on misdemeanor trespassing and other charges. Nixon’s trial springs from a protest outside Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office in May. She was arrested after refusing to leave while seeking a meeting with DeSantis about a redistricting plan that advocates say would dilute Black voting power.

To Nixon, the only thing to do now is to get louder. She traces that political belief partly to her family — including a grandmother who had to hide during an episode of racial violence known as Ax Handle Saturday — and to Black leaders who came before her. As some Black Floridians face shrinking representation, aggressive immigration enforcement, and growing disillusionment with the government, Nixon wants Black elected officials to hold the line.

DeSantis has dismissed Nixon’s protest as “performative nonsense.” Lawyers for the state also have defended the new map against claims that it violates Florida’s constitution.

Capital B spoke with Nixon — who’s been endorsed by U.S. Reps. Maxwell Frost of Florida and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and other progressive political leaders — about her state’s redistricting battle, her trial, and her reasons for wanting her peers to “get louder.” This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Capital B: What’s at stake in the fight over Florida’s map?

Angie Nixon: Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump, they’re basically working together. Trump, in collusion with Republican governors, is basically trying to rig an election. They’re making it so that politicians can choose their voters and not allow the voters to choose whom they want to represent them. And it’s especially happening in the South.

There’s just an all-out attack on our rights, and they’re weaponizing agencies to go after people who challenge them. That’s exactly what happened with me. I’m facing two years in jail because DeSantis didn’t want to meet with me. They arrested me for trespassing because they wanted me to move away from his office, even though I’m allowed to have access to the Capitol building 24/7. That’s just so disrespectful. It’s a sign that our democracy is falling apart.

Do you expect these political and legal pressures to shift as we near the midterm elections?

I believe that we’re going to see more attacks and more officials weaponize their authority by targeting people who are speaking out against them. We can see that ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is picking up, especially in our state, because TPS [Temporary Protected Status] has ended for Haitians. It just gives them the opportunity to overpolice and racially profile and evoke fear.

When you live in a state of constant fear and frustration, you just give up hope. You feel as though there’s no one who’s doing their job as an elected official, and so you don’t even worry about voting sometimes. And that’s what I’m hearing. People have given up hope because not enough elected officials are fighting and getting loud and pushing back.

But that’s why I keep doing what I’m doing, because I want people to know that I see them. I feel their pain, and I’m fighting for them, even though I’m facing two years, even though I faced a formal reprimand, even though I had the FDLE [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] go to someone’s house because they called for my assassination.

In spite of all of this happening, Floridians deserve someone who’s going to look out for them. The government should be looking out for the people, not working against them.

What goes through your mind when you see government officials use their authority like this?

Honestly, I get sad. And sometimes it feels lonely, because I feel like not a lot of people are doing what I’m doing.

But then I just think about my grandmother and how she had to hide inside of a building in Jacksonville when race riots started happening. I just think about U.S. Rep. Yvonne Hinson, who marched alongside her parents when they were trying to get their right to vote and she was being spat on and fire hoses were being turned on her.

I just think about how I’m not facing that, and so who am I not to speak up after these elders — many of whom are still alive — went through all of that. Like, how dare I not speak out and push back. And so I have to keep going.

What do you want to see from other elected officials?

I want us to get louder.

I was at a workshop on democracy last year, and a historian talked about how the only way that countries have been able to save democracy was by getting loud and mobilizing and taking it to the streets. And the opposition party was out there helping to get loud and take it to the streets.

We have to lean on what our elders did — how they organized and got loud. I’m ready for our people to not just survive, but thrive and flourish.

What else is important for people to understand about your case?

I’m facing two years for a peaceful protest, and yet we have a president who was found guilty of 34 felony counts. It’s just — this is crazy. It’s absolutely crazy. It’s not right. The system is rigged. But I’m ready to unrig it.

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