U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and two-time presidential candidate, will hold a rally in Tallahassee on Oct. 18 as part of his “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” tour.
State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, is slated to appear as a “special guest.” The event is scheduled for 8 p.m. at The Moon, 1105 E. Lafayette St., with doors opening at 6 p.m. Admission is free, according to organizers, who are encouraging attendees to RSVP in advance online.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks at The People V. The Powerful rally at the Detroit Opera House on July 18, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan.
Nixon is listed as a special guest for all his other Florida stops, including Tampa, Melbourne and Gainesville. These appearances comes as Nixon seeks to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody in Florida’s 2026 Senate election. Sanders endorsed Nixon two days after her primary victory.
According to USA TODAY, Nixon worked on Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and has campaigned on issues including Medicare for All, universal child care and affordable housing.
Nixon, a Jacksonville state representative and democratic socialist, won the Democratic nomination in August after defeating the better-funded Alex Vindman in the primary. Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, is a former National Security Council official who became a central figure in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
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Moody, Florida’s former attorney general, was appointed to the Senate in 2025 after Marco Rubio left the seat to become U.S. secretary of state. The November election will be the first time she has stood before Florida voters as an incumbent U.S. senator.
Nixon faces a difficult path in a state that has trended increasingly Republican; the Real Clear Politics polling average for the race most recently had it as “leans Republican” with Moody leading Nixon by seven percentage points.
Sanders was last in Tallahassee, albeit virtually, for his unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign as a Democrat. He appeared via livestream before supporters at the now defunct Crum Box Gastgarden in Railroad Square and at the LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library downtown.
Another in-person campaign stop had been scheduled for Florida A&M University as part of his “Feel the Bern” tour of historically Black colleges and universities, but was cancelled.
Some reporting was previously published by the USA TODAY Network. Jim Rosica is a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida Capital Bureau. Reach him at jrosica@tallahassee.com and follow him on X: @JimRosicaFL.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Bernie Sanders to hold Tallahassee rally for Angie Nixon for Senate