Angie Nixon Won’t Be Florida’s First Black Senator

After pulling off a surprise win in the Democratic Party in August, state Rep. Angie Nixon lost to her Republican rival, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, in the general election on Tuesday, the AP projects.

A longtime community organizer whose campaign prioritized affordable healthcare and a universal jobs program, Nixon was poised to become Florida’s first Black senator. But for her, the contest was about more than just making history.

“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,” Nixon told Capital B in September. “But that’s why I keep doing what I’m doing, because I want people to know that I see them.”

Nixon was only the second Black woman to win the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in the Sunshine State.

Nixon is widely known for visible displays of dissent. She was arrested in a May sit-in in the office of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as she protested Florida’s redrawn congressional maps. Dressed in a pink jumpsuit and carrying a pink megaphone, Nixon also protested the maps as illegal on the floor of the Florida House. 

Moody was considered the overwhelming favorite headed into the general election against Nixon, a Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidate.

Earlier this year, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried downplayed the potential of progressive insurgents to win in Florida in the lead-up to the primaries. Pointing to Florida voters who fled left-wing authoritarian regimes, Fried told Politico: “I trust our electorate that they’re going to nominate people who are reflective of our communities here in our state.”

In a fiery speech to a Jacksonville, Florida, crowd, Nixon was defiant about her chances of winning in November.

“If wanting your neighbor to afford their insulin is radical, then call me a radical. If believing a mother shouldn’t have to work three jobs just to keep a roof over their head is extreme, then call me extreme,” she told cheering supporters Tuesday in Jacksonville. “Where I come from here in Duval County … it’s basic human decency.”

Cook Political Report currently rates the race “Solid Republican”; President Donald Trump won Florida by 13 points in 2024. Floridians have not elected a Democrat statewide since 2018.

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