Florida Rep. Angie Nixon at University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida on Oct, 4, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Last week in Lakeland, the vice president of the United States told Florida Rep. Angie Nixon, a Black woman, “Get the hell out of here. You don’t belong in America.”
Last night at the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate clapped back.
““They don’t want people here that either don’t look like them or don’t think like them, but I’m here to remind y’all that this is our country too,” Nixon said, according to the USF Oracle.
The rally—where students began lining up at the Marshall Center 90 minutes before doors even opened—kicked off Nixon’s student town hall series. For 22 minutes, the student newspaper reported, the 43-year-old rising star of American politics encouraged students to imagine a country where every family should enjoy stability.
“[Where] every young person has dignity, and every worker has dignity, and everyone has the opportunity to reach the true American dream,” she said.
The deadline to register to vote in November’s General Election is today. Early voting in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties runs Oct. 19.-Nov. 1.
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Florida Rep. Angie Nixon at University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida on Oct, 4, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.
Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky
This article appears in Oct. 01 – 07, 2026.
Related