{"id":7041970,"date":"2026-08-19T18:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/balloon-juice-only-nixon-could-go-to-florida\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T18:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:21:00","slug":"balloon-juice-only-nixon-could-go-to-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7041970","title":{"rendered":"Balloon Juice – Only Nixon Could Go to Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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\"Rally<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still trying to wrap my head around Florida statehouse Rep. Angie Nixon\u2019s stunning upset in the U.S. Senate primary yesterday. It wasn\u2019t a squeaker. Rep. Nixon beat Alex Vindman by 12 points, even though his campaign outspent hers 16 to 1.\u00a0She had no support from the state party, which, like everyone else, assumed Vindman was a shoo-in.<\/p>\n

She was born and raised in the Jacksonville area, a union organizer and Democrat who\u2019s served in the statehouse for several years. Nixon being a Florida native could have been a factor since the Vindmans are recent arrivals to the state. But only a third or so of Florida residents were born here, so that probably didn\u2019t matter all that much.<\/p>\n

During her statehouse career, Nixon got critical legislation across the finish line in a wingnut supermajority chamber that she has called a \u201chostile work environment.\u201d It sure was that when she led the fight against DeSantis\u2019s post-VRA gerrymander to minimize Democratic \u2014 and especially black Democratic \u2014 representation. Nixon took a bullhorn to the floor of the statehouse and then staged a sit-in at DeSantis\u2019s office, for which she was arrested. <\/p>\n

It may melt some very online brains to learn that despite not<\/em> being a white, male, sexist trustafarian, Nixon is a DSA member, although a fairly recent one who doesn\u2019t play up the connection constantly. However, she was endorsed by \u201cSquad\u201d Reps Tlaib and Omar along with Florida\u2019s youngest federal representative, progressive U.S. House Rep. Maxwell Frost.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Times covered Rep. Nixon\u2019s victory speech:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cTo the people who said that a working-class Black woman couldn\u2019t do this, that a union organizer from Jacksonville who refused corporate PAC money, that we the people couldn\u2019t do this, look at us now\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

In her speech, Nixon rattled off the priorities she said she will fight for: \u201cMedicare for all, universal childcare, real affordable housing, fully funded public education and an end to senseless war.\u201d She later added a $25 federal minimum wage to the list.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Vindman, to his great credit, got on board immediately:<\/p>\n

\n

I still believe in the American Dream, because I\u2019ve lived it. It\u2019s worth fighting for.<\/p>\n

Rep. Nixon ran a strong campaign. I will be standing by her side in the fight against Ashley Moody. I hope you\u2019ll join me.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Alexander S. Vindman (@avindman.bsky.social<\/a>) August 18, 2026 at 9:08 PM<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The conventional wisdom is that the word \u201csocialist\u201d is so toxic in Florida that it will sink anyone associated with it who runs statewide. Maybe that\u2019s true, but it\u2019s also true that Republicans call everyone to the left of Rick Scott a socialist.<\/p>\n

Republicans called Joe Biden a socialist. Maybe their recent escalation from calling Democrats \u201csocialists\u201d to lying that they are \u201ccommunists\u201d is a sign that the lie is losing its triggering effect. I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Can Nixon win in the general election? Fuck if I know. I\u2019ve lived here all my life and followed politics fairly closely, and I don\u2019t understand the state\u2019s politics and have accepted that I never will.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure a passel of negative nellies is poised to parachute into comments to declare definitively that Nixon can\u2019t win. To that, my prebuttal is whatever, man.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesterday, no one thought Angie Nixon had a chance in the primary either. She won convincingly by putting in the work and building a coalition across diverse communities. In one of the Tampa Bay Times election live-blogs yesterday, long before anyone had a clue this upset was in the making, a reporter noted that Nixon was the only candidate with door-knockers on the street.<\/p>\n

If Nixon has a path to victory, I think it will be block by block and bloc by bloc. Black Democrats are understandably livid about Republicans carving up districts to erase their representation. Many in immigrant communities are pissed off about the egregious cruelty of Trump\u2019s deportation campaign.<\/p>\n

Lots of ordinary Floridians are pissed off about spiraling prices and stunned by how much the state has changed over the past several years. It\u2019s really hard to explain how much if you haven\u2019t seen it first hand, and it\u2019s not for the better.<\/p>\n

This used to be an affordable state, but the trade-off was low wages. We still have relatively low wages, but now housing costs have doubled or tripled and the cost of everything else is through the roof.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve always had a seasonal plague of rich perverts (see Trump, Epstein), but now billionaires have poured into the state and control its politics from behind walled-off compounds while influencer weirdos have made the state their headquarters.<\/p>\n

One of the greatest obstacles Nixon will face is apathy \u2014 the helpless feeling that everything is rigged and nothing can change. I think that\u2019s why a lot of people don\u2019t bother to vote. If Nixon can give people a reason to believe that we can do better, I think she can win.<\/p>\n

Open thread.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m still trying to wrap my head around Florida statehouse Rep. Angie Nixon\u2019s stunning upset in the U.S. Senate primary yesterday. It wasn\u2019t a squeaker. Rep. 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