Rain doesn't dampen enthusiasm at Bernie Sanders/Angie Nixon rally

Senator Bernie Sanders brought his Fighting Oligarchy tour to Tampa on Saturday, and despite heavy rain, well over a thousand people packed the courtyard of Ybor City's Cuban Club to hear the Senator and his former staffer, the Democrat's nominee for the U.S. Senate in Florida.

Nixon is a Florida state rep. from Jacksonville who pulled off a historic upset in the Democratic primary, routing an establishment candidate who outspent her $18-1. She faces former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, whom Gov. DeSantis appointed to the seat after Marco Rubio was made Secretary of State.

Nixon again faces an uphill battle against a better-funded opponent in a state where registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats by 1.5 million. However, a Mason-Dixon poll showed Nixon leading among independents, as polling continue to show her closing in on Moody.

Fueled by Sanders' endorsement and a push from prominent Dems, Nixon actually outraised Moody in the most recent campaign finance report, pulling in $7.9 million, with almost $5 million coming from small-dollar donors.

On Saturday, Nixon hit the stage like a rock star, music blaring as a sea of faces young and old roared in approval. Nixon told the crowd she absolutely supports Medicare for All, and that in the wealthiest nation in the world, a person working two jobs shouldn't have to worry about paying the rent or choosing between food and healthcare.

Nixon laid into Moody and her attacks that paint Nixon as a dangerous socialist who's coming for people's healthcare coverage.

"If Ashley Moody cared about people losing their healthcare, she wouldn't have voted to kick over 400,000 people off of their insurance plans," Nixon said, referring to Moody's vote not to extend enhanced federal subsidies when they expired on December 31, 2025.

Nixon also continued to rip Moody for her involvement in the HOPE Florida scandal, in which her office signed off on sending $10 million from a settlement with a healthcare provider that overbilled Florida's Healthy Kids program to the Hope Florida Foundation, a pet project of Gov. DeSantis' wife.

The funding ultimately flowed through multiple organizations before ending up in the accounts of two PACs and the Republican Party of Florida, where it was used to defeat Amendment 3 last cycle, a citizen initiative to legalize recreational marijuana.

"Ashley Moody can call me whatever name she wants," said Nixon, "but come November 3rd, she'll be calling me Senator."

Sanders had been skeptical that Florida could flip a Senate seat, but he began taking a closer look after his 2016 staffer pulled off that unthinkable primary victory and kept building grassroots momentum. The Senator gave Nixon's campaign $250,000 from Our Revolution, a progressive political organization the independent from Vermont founded in 2016 following his presidential campaign.

"I believe that the next Senator from Florida is going to be Ashley Nixon," Sanders said on Saturday.

Sanders may well be right.  Nixon has charisma that could rival any pol in Washington. More importantly, she seems to drip authenticity. When she talks, people believe her.  A former union organizer and single mom, as one supporter put it, "she doesn't need a focus group to tell her what working a double shift feels like." 

President Trump's approval rating is now underwater in all 50 states, including Florida (47-52). As the Iran War drags on and inflation continues to soar, Nixon's messaging on inflation, healthcare, and "finding the money for war, but never for the poor" is hitting even harder than it was when she won the August primary.