‘I don’t like to see people struggling the way I struggled’: Rep. Angie Nixon gets vulnerable about what motivates her fight for Floridians
TheGrio...
Florida Rep. Angie Nixon shares the personal story that motivates her campaign for a government that works for its people.
Florida Rep. Angie Nixon is fighting for a seat in the U.S. Senate during this year’s midterm elections. And while her grassroots campaign has earned her support from one of the nation’s largest political advocacy groups, a recent interview on CBS News has prompted social media users across the country to applaud Nixon’s position in the race for the U.S. Senate.
“I was a single mom for 12 years, and I struggled,” Nixon shared, getting emotional. “But I am proof positive of what happens when government does the right thing. As a single mom, I was able to afford not a brand-new home, but a home because the federal government had a program that had money that trickled down to the state which trickled down to the local government. And at the age of 29, after graduating from the University of Florida and working for the state of Florida on a $28,000 a year salary, I was able to purchase a home for me and my daughter because government did the right thing,”
She continued: “Those types of programs have been cut under Donald Trump, especially when he pushed this big beautiful bill, which I call the big BS bill. And so that is why my lived experiences are why I do what I do. I get so emotional because I don’t like to see people struggling the way I struggled. I grew up in a house filled with domestic violence. And I left my mom at a very young age during a moment when she was under attack by my dad. And because of that, I run towards bullies. I will never leave people when they are being attacked, facing oppression, or being harmed. That’s what drives me.”
The clip has since gone viral, with users applauding her candor and relatability. With a firm belief that the government should work for working people, not corporations or billionaires, or not the political establishment in either party that keeps letting them win, Nixon has been campaigning to fight for working families to guarantee Medicare for all, free childcare, free paid family and sick leave, a national rent freeze and moratorium on evictions, and a universal jobs program with inflation-adjusted wages.
“Whatever your politics, this is a piece of Angie Nixon’s story worth hearing in her own words,” Shea Jordan Smith wrote on Threads, reposting the video. “This makes JD Vance telling her to ‘get the hell out of here’ and that she ‘doesn’t belong in America’ even more insane because Angie Nixon is literally the embodiment of the American Dream.”
“This is why we need leaders who understand what everyday people go through.
Florida Senate candidate Angie Nixon: “I don’t like to see people struggling the way I struggled,” another Threads user added.
While many social media users describe her as “deeply human” and “inspiring,” Nixon’s honesty and candor have also made her the subject of attacks from her conservative opponents. As previously reported by theGrio, Vance said Nixon doesn’t “belong in America” because of her socialist views during an appearance in Lakeland, Florida, last week, where he supported her opponent, Ashley Moody.
“The fact that they are trying to demonize me and tell me I need to leave the country, the very country that I was born and raised in, the very state, and knowing again that my ancestors helped build this country and so I also don’t even know where I’d go back to,” Nixon told WESH in response to his comments.
However, at a time when more and more communities are disengaging with politics and falling victim to misinformation, content creator Lynae Vanee, who tackles politics and social issues on her platforms, explains how important it is to hear stories like Nixon’s who tackles politics and social issues on her platforms, especially ahead of the midterm elections.
“I think stories move politics,” she stressed. “Politics is personal,” Vanee told theGrio at Culturecon 202,6. “The more we share about how our quality of life is impacted by these policies…it really shapes who gets the power, who gets to keep telling the story. I think the more [of society’s] little people share their stories the louder we get, and the better chance we have at taking back the narrative. “