How aligned is Angie Nixon with democratic socialists? Moody’s Florida Senate race attack misleads

After Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon scored a stunning upset in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, her Republican opponent sought to tie her to extreme policies. 

Republican incumbent Sen. Ashley Moody pointed to Nixon’s membership in the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization that received widespread attention as its members notched recent primary wins across the country. DSA member New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani began the wave with his 2025 win. 

Moody, who was appointed to the seat in 2025 and is seeking to retain it, said in her Aug. 18 victory speech, “My opponent will be a self-proclaimed socialist that proudly signed up and joined the Democratic Socialists of America. That will be my opponent. … You’re going to have one side that I’m going to be up against that wants to, and the platform says, ‘Defund the police, don’t fund our military, open up the border, noncitizen voting.’”

Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat first elected to the Florida House in 2020, joined the Democratic Socialists of America in June. The DSA does not appear to have endorsed Nixon. 

When reporters have asked Nixon how her positions compare with the DSA’s, she said she agreed with many — but not all — of the group’s policies. “I don’t fully align with anybody’s full platform 100%, not even the Democratic Party,” Nixon told WLRN Aug. 19. 

A Nixon campaign spokesperson told PolitiFact she also belongs to other organizations, including the Working Families Party and Service Employees International Union. 

Her campaign said she supports public safety, criminal justice reform and addressing the root causes of crime, as well as securing the U.S. border while also establishing clear pathways to citizenship.

Cameron Gambini, Moody’s campaign communications director, said the senator was referring to the DSA’s platform. “If you are voluntarily a member of the DSA, which is on record preaching to defund the police, you too support defunding the police,” Gambini said. He also pointed to Nixon’s vote against Florida’s SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote, as evidence that she supports noncitizen voting.

The DSA has specific policy goals, but there is no set of beliefs that members must follow. Its constitution says anyone who subscribes to its principles can be a member. Some of its members support policies the group doesn’t align with. For example, the New York City DSA chapter recently criticized Mamdani for increasing the number of city police officers. 

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What is Nixon’s position on defunding police? 

Nixon has said publicly she does not support defunding the police but wants criminal justice reform. 

“What I support is making sure we have law and order in this country,” Nixon said in an Aug. 19 interview on MS NOW’s Morning Joe. She also said, “I don’t support defunding the police. I do support comprehensive criminal justice reform to make sure we are addressing some of the root causes of people leading into a life of crime.” We found no evidence that Nixon has supported defunding police in the past.

Nixon said she doesn’t support abolishing all prisons, but wants to end for-profit prisons because of the industry’s labor exploitation and financial incentive to keep the prisons full. 

The DSA says it believes in abolishing police and prisons. It calls for “freedom for all incarcerated people,” to demilitarize the police, invest in community self-governance and cut police budgets.

State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Fla., uses a bullhorn on the House floor as lawmakers votes on HB1D, a redistricting bill, during a special session of the Florida Legislature, April 29, 2026, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP)

What is Nixon’s position on defunding the military? 

Nixon says she opposes costly military engagements, such as the U.S. war with Iran, and favors diplomacy for conflict resolution. We found no evidence she has advocated for defunding the military.

In a July 8 interview with Fox 13 Tampa Bay, Nixon said the Defense Department has continually failed its audits while there are homeless U.S. veterans and military families on food assistance.

Nixon’s campaign website says she believes, “American foreign policy should reflect the values of everyday Americans, not the interests of defense contractors and foreign lobbies.” The section scrutinizes the billions spent on the Iran war while “jeopardizing the lives of American service members and Iranian civilians.”

The closest Nixon comes to supporting stripping military funding is regarding U.S. assistance to Israel.

In an Aug. 14 radio interview, Nixon said if she were a member of Congress, she would have supported a congressional resolution that would have ended $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel. “We cannot continue to send money to countries that are violating international law, that are violating human rights,” she said. 

The DSA’s foreign policy section calls to “defund the Department of War,” the name the Trump administration calls the Defense Department. It also calls for supporting and employing veterans, ending immunity for U.S. war criminals and supporting the International Criminal Court.

What is Nixon’s position on opening the U.S. border?

Nixon’s campaign told us she supports secure borders “with clear and compassionate pathways for citizenship.” Her website says the same and calls for abolishing ICE and rebuilding immigration enforcement.

In a July 8 interview, Nixon said the U.S. needs to “modernize and reform the immigration system.”  

“I think border patrol should make sure they are securing the border while there are clear pathways to citizenship, especially for Haitians, Venezuelans and Syrians who recently saw their temporary protected status revoked,” she said Aug. 19.

The DSA’s website doesn’t specifically mention the U.S. border, but it calls for abolishing ICE and ending deportations, legalizing migration, granting amnesty for immigrants regardless of status, and supports a citizenship pathway for permanent residents.

In a July 26 Fox News Sunday interview, DSA’s co-chair Megan Romer called it “a long-term plan” to abolish borders and give amnesty to people in the U.S. illegally. 

What is Nixon’s position on noncitizen voting?

Nixon has not said she supports noncitizen voting and her website doesn’t mention it as one of her political priorities. Her campaign said she “supports the right of every eligible American citizen to vote.”

Nixon’s opposition to Florida’s SAVE Act was related to barriers it could create for older Americans, students and women who have changed their names who may not have easy access to the required documentation. 

The DSA supports extending full voting rights to all U.S. permanent residents and restoring voting rights for incarcerated people and people with criminal convictions.

PolitiFact News Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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