![\"MIAMI,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tos-l-angie-nixon-getty-shake-aug-15.jpg\")
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon campaigns during a tour of the Little Havana neighborhood on August 15, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nVice President JD Vance told a Lakeland crowd Thursday that state Rep. Angie Nixon doesn\u2019t \u201cbelong in America,\u201d drawing a sharp rebuke from the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate.<\/p>\n
Vance, visiting the state for a midterm rally with the GOP governor candidate, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, and Nixon\u2019s opponent, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, criticized Nixon for having called herself a Democratic socialist.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the right response is to say, then get the hell out of here. You don\u2019t belong in America,\u201d Vance said to applause.<\/p>\n
Nixon, an African American and a Jacksonville native, fired back on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most ordinary man imaginable came to my home state to tell me to \u2018get out of America\u2019 while he & Absent Ashley enjoyed the comfort of buildings my ancestors helped build,\u201d Nixon wrote. \u201cImagine standing on the shoulders of the people who built this country & then telling their descendants they don\u2019t belong here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can take their tech-bro cash and their weird, intrusive agenda somewhere else, because I\u2019m not going any damn place,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon campaigns during a tour of the Little Havana neighborhood on August 15, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The back-and-forth with Vance came one day after Democratic leaders criticized Moody for avoiding constituents and for her involvement in the Hope Florida scandal.<\/p>\n
On the steps in front of the Old Capitol, behind a sign that asked \u201cWhere is Ashley Moody?\u201d Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried and Rep. Gallop Franklin II, D-Tallahassee, accused Moody of dodging questions from reporters and avoiding public town hall meetings 34 days before the midterm election.<\/p>\n
They contrasted Moody\u2019s campaign with that of Nixon\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeanwhile, Angie Nixon has been crisscrossing the state, knocking doors, holding town halls, and talking to reporters,\u201d Fried said. \u201cAshley Moody should take a page out of Angie Nixon\u2019s book. Stop hiding behind attacks. Show up and talk to the people you work for, because Ashley Moody is asking Floridians for their vote, and if she won\u2019t answer their questions, they\u2019ll give her their answer in November.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moody was elected as state attorney general in 2018 and reelected in 2022. In January 2025, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to replace Marco Rubio, who left the Senate to become Secretary of State.<\/p>\n
Fried also cited Moody\u2019s involvement in the Hope Florida scandal.<\/p>\n
A grand jury found the DeSantis administration in 2024 \u201cmisappropriated\u201d $10 million of taxpayer funds for political purposes, but no charges were filed against anyone.<\/p>\n
Moody was attorney general at the time and her office approved of the settlement with a Medicaid provider that diverted $10 million into a nonprofit, the Hope Florida Foundation, that immediately transferred the money to two groups that then gave the money to a political committee headed by James Uthmeier. At the time, Uthmeier was DeSantis\u2019 chief of staff and was tapped by DeSantis to replace Moody as attorney general.<\/p>\n
\u201cFloridians deserve a senator who will listen, who shows up, who answers their questions. Ashley Moody won\u2019t show up for Florida, so this November, Florida will show her the door,\u201d Fried said.<\/p>\n
![\"Ashley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Ashley-Moody-horiz.jpg\")
U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody is running to fill the remainder of now Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term after having been appointed to the position in 2025. (Courtesy Moody Campaign)<\/p>\n
Last week, Moody told the News Service of Florida that as Florida\u2019s junior senator she will \u201ckeep fighting\u201d for her constituents in Washington D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning an election means people want to send you to Washington to be their voice, to be their representative. I have got to make sure I am engaging with folks and convincing them that, yes, we have delivered on so many meaningful things,\u201d Moody said.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Moody declined to debate Nixon, telling Action News Jax she would bring attention to a \u201cself-proclaimed socialist.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSocialist Angie Nixon repeatedly quotes cop killers. Her \u2018Cafe Resistance\u2019 bookstore celebrates them. To every LEO and their family, I will ALWAYS support you. We have to get this right in 34 days, Florida,\u201d Moody said in a social media post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The winner of the U.S. Senate race will serve the remaining two years of Rubio\u2019s term before facing reelection in 2028.<\/p>\n
Orlando Sentinel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vice President JD Vance told a Lakeland crowd Thursday that state Rep. Angie Nixon doesn\u2019t \u201cbelong in America,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2811,28,29,114,5741,115,139,141,140,99,109],"class_list":["post-418239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-election","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-national-news","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}