U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Angie Nixon held a Students for Solidarity town hall at the University of Central Florida Tuesday with some notable guests in attendance.
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Nixon, a representative from Jacksonville, has been campaigning at universities across the state with free, public events. Nixon made an appearance at UCF last week on Oct. 14 with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
This time, Nixon was joined by California Rep. Ro Khanna, Orlando mayoral candidate and Florida House Rep. Anna V. Eskamani and a video appearance from Rep. Maxwell Frost — who is currently campaigning in Michigan with U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
Khanna, who has represented Silicon Valley since 2017, said in August he would be considering a 2028 presidential run. Nixon said in a post-town hall interview with WDBO that Khanna reached out to her personally to help her campaign.
“One thing we both have in common is neither of us were supposed to get elected,” Khanna said. “Nobody thought an Indian-American of Hindu faith was going to get elected when I was growing up, and nobody thought Angie Nixon was going to get elected.”
Nixon spoke about her platform priorities at the event, including raising the minimum wage, Medicare for All and increased taxes on billionaires.
“Let’s be clear, this moment isn’t about Republicans or MAGA or Democrats versus progressives versus DSA versus moderate,” Nixon said at the event. “This is about the rich at the top getting richer and trying to decimate the entire working class.”
Nixon supports Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 5% annual wealth tax on billionaires, according to her website. This revenue would be used to support households under $150,000 a year, expand Medicare coverage and build affordable housing.
Sanders recently campaigned with Nixon in Tampa, Melbourne, Gainesville and Tallahassee.
READ: ‘Everybody is just tired’: Rep. Angie Nixon on Orlando’s Morning News with Scott Anez
Both Nixon and Khanna hosted a Q&A after their speeches. Central Florida voters and students across the aisle asked questions regarding AI in education, the affordability crisis, healthcare, disability rights, abortion, immigration, the Epstein files and more.
Maria Padilla, a recent retiree, said she attended the event to learn more about Nixon. As an Orange County resident, Padilla said her biggest concerns are public transportation, safety and affordability.
Padilla said she is leaning towards voting for Nixon.
“I think she’s a very frank person, I think she has her eye on very practical things that people need,” Padilla said. “I believe affordability is one of those things for her, and I know it’s a catchword, but I do think that’s important for a lot of people right now.”
Cayleb Bridges, 20, is the outreach director for the UCF College Republicans. He said he attended the event “in the spirit of bipartisanship.”
Bridges asked Nixon and Khanna if they would be willing to sponsor The Dignity Act, a bipartisan immigration reform bill proposed by Republican Florida House Rep. María Elvira Salazar and Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar. The bill would propose renewable 7-year legal statuses and work permits to undocumented immigrants that meet the required criteria, but would exclude citizenship or federal benefits.
“I’m hoping she won’t be there [when I’m there],” Nixon said of Salazar.
Nixon and Khanna followed up and said they don’t support the bill because it lacks a pathway to citizenship. Bridges said he was disappointed with her initial response.
“I think that runs contrary to her previous message about bipartisanship,” Bridges said. “I want to make sure the people we are electing are able to work across the aisle and they’re not there to act as ideological zealots.”
Billboards have been popping up across Central Florida advocating for Nixon. Nixon clarified the billboards are not paid by her campaign, but support across Central Florida is crucial to her success come November.
Nixon told WDBO she has been speaking with voters across the aisle about their biggest concerns to appease the half a million minor party and nearly 3.5 million undecided voters in the state.
“Ashley Moody is someone who won’t even come meet with them,” Nixon said. “I’m letting them know that I’m someone who’s going to be accessible to them and working to stomp out chaos and corruption and help lower their costs and put money in their pockets.”
Currently, incumbent Republican Sen. Ashley Moody has a 6% average lead over Nixon. Moody has released a series of television ads criticizing Nixon for her Democratic Socialists of America membership.
Fifty-two percent of Florida voters said they would be less likely to vote for a self-described Democratic Socialist in Florida, according to a Mason-Dixon poll from October.
Nixon has outspokenly denied these claims and said she identifies as a capitalist. She said her goal was to create a diverse coalition of people that “put people over politics, party and profit.”
“At the end of the day, they’re going to lie on me and call me all kinds of things, they were doing that anyway,” Nixon said. “I just have to go out there and outwork them.”
Early voting began in Central Florida on Oct. 19. The official midterm election will be held on Nov. 3.
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