Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon announced Thursday that she is running in 2026 for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Ashley Moody, the Associated Press reported.
Nixon, who represents a district in Jacksonville, said her decision to enter the 2026 election is based on what she described as “an affordability crisis that Florida’s leadership has ignored for far too long.” She said that during a tour of the state over the past few months, she heard the same message from Republicans, independents and Democrats: “We can’t afford to go on like this.”
In her campaign announcement, Nixon also said politicians, including Moody, “aren’t listening to the people.” She said the cost of “everything is exploding,” including groceries, healthcare and childcare, and she cited property insurance, saying it “has doubled in the last four years.” Nixon also said housing costs are driving Floridians out of the towns they grew up in.
Moody was serving as Florida’s attorney general when Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to fill out the term of Marco Rubio after Rubio became secretary of state in President Donald Trump’s second administration, AP reported.
AP also reported that the GOP holds a 53-47 lead over the Democratic caucus in the Florida Senate, which includes two independents. Under that math, Democrats would have to flip four seats in November and protect the seats they occupy to take the majority, a task described as difficult though Democrats were increasingly optimistic about their chances in the 2026 midterms.
Nixon cited the recent Miami mayoral race as an example of what she said could signal a broader political shift. AP said Democrat Eileen Higgins defeated Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez in a contest that was officially nonpartisan, while Higgins campaigned as a Democrat. Nixon said, “People are fed up. Everyone, not just Democrats,” adding that she viewed the Miami race as “only one of the signs that a big shift is coming.”
In the same remarks, Nixon said voters want leaders “who will actually fight for them rather than fight each other on TV,” and she closed with “It’s time. Change can’t wait any longer.”
Before entering the Senate race, AP reported that Nixon was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2020. It said she has been outspoken against Gov. DeSantis’s redistricting plan, and that she sued the state after being denied access to a South Florida detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” AP added that she has introduced legislation that would require ICE and other law enforcement agents to unmask and identify themselves on the job.
AP also reported that Nixon graduated from the University of Florida in 2007 and has served as executive director for Florida for All, a statewide coalition that has registered new voters across the state.