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Credit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\nCredit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n
With just a couple of weeks until election day, Florida Democratic U.S Senate candidate Angie Nixon returned to Orlando Tuesday to hold a town hall with Disney World employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nixon, a progressive from Jacksonville, heard stories from workers about their concerns over cost of living, unaffordable healthcare, the cost of groceries, and Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown.\u00a0She was joined by former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat.<\/p>\n
Florida is home to the third-highest population of undocumented immigrants in the U.S., and the largest population of immigrants<\/a> allowed to live temporarily \u2014 and legally \u2014 in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to revoke TPS<\/a> for several countries, including Venezuela, Haiti and Syria, immigrants who\u2019ve built lives in Florida after fleeing their home countries due to political violence or climate catastrophes are today vulnerable to deportation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not criminals,\u201d said Edner Alouidor, a 14-year custodian and Unite Here Local 737 union member from Haiti who works at Disney\u2019s EPCOT. He\u2019s been canvassing for political candidates his union has endorsed, like Nixon, who\u2019s vowed to support efforts to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, if elected.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are workers, we are parents \u2014 we are human beings,\u201d Alouidor stressed. \u201cWe are not asking for special treatment, we are asking for dignity. Our children deserve dreams. Our family deserves hope, not fear.\u201d<\/p>\n Nixon, a Florida House representative and former union organizer herself, is campaigning on a $25 minimum wage, universal healthcare under Medicare for All, getting corporate super PACs out of politics, and strengthening workers\u2019 rights under the proposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n The PRO Act, legislation that has passed<\/a> the U.S. House but failed to pass the Senate, would strengthen workers\u2019 rights under federal law by meaningfully penalizing employers that violate their workers\u2019 right to organize a union, streamline the process of securing justice for workers unlawfully fired or disciplined by their employers, and make it easier for workers to secure a fair union contract, among other provisions.<\/p>\n \u201cI know what it\u2019s like to struggle,\u201d said Nixon, a mother of five and business owner who has her own history of struggling to make ends meet. \u201cPeople power will beat big money each and every day, but it has to be organized.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m willing to go to the U.S. Senate to help organize and to also help fight alongside you all, so we can put pressure on the folks in Washington [D.C.] to do the right thing,\u201d she told a crowd of over 100.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople power will beat big money each and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Angie Nixon<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s town hall was organized by an affiliate of the Machinists union, the Transport Workers Union. It\u2019s part of a coalition of six labor unions that collectively represent roughly 45,000 employees at Disney World in Orlando, from cooks and servers to parking attendants, bus drivers, housekeepers and costumed characters like Mickey Mouse himself.<\/p>\n The Services Trades Council Union, representing the Disney workers, last negotiated a five-year union contract with Walt Disney World in 2023. Under that 323-page contract<\/a>, set to expire at the end of 2027, minimum pay for covered Disney employees is $20, as of this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s double what it was a decade ago<\/a>, when the cost of living was lower in Central Florida. But some employees say the $20 wage floor still isn\u2019t enough to cover the bills.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m blessed,\u201d said 12-year employee Diego Henry Jr., who works in parks attractions. \u201cI get paid $21 and change, but that\u2019s not even a living wage right now,\u201d he argued, \u201cand it doesn\u2019t seem like they [Disney] care. It doesn\u2019t seem like they hear us.\u201d<\/p>\n Tariffs, the expiration of Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies, and other inflationary pressures tied to actions of the Trump administration \u2014 affecting costs from gas pumps to grocery stores \u2014 have left many U.S. voters with a sour impression of a president who made a campaign promise in 2024 to \u201cMake America Affordable Again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are cast members [Disney employees] who are living in their cars, there are cast members who need medical attention but cannot afford it, there are children that are going hungry,\u201d said Quinn Gorski, a Disney employee of 23 years who waits tables at 50\u2019s Prime Time Caf\u00e9 at Disney World\u2019s Hollywood Studios.<\/p>\n As a part-time server who isn\u2019t afforded health benefits, Gorski said she\u2019s grateful she\u2019s covered on her husband\u2019s health insurance plan as she undergoes treatment for kidney cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cI am part-time due to Disney not opening full-time tipped positions, overstaffing locations, as well as outsourcing to third-party restaurants,\u201d she alleged. \u201cI was extremely lucky and thankful that friends started an online fundraiser to help with my bills and copays. Without that, I don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be.\u201d She has another surgery scheduled for Nov. 10.<\/p>\n Nixon is running this November to unseat Sen. Ashley Moody, a Republican appointed to the Senate last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill a vacancy left by Marco Rubio. Moody previously served as Florida\u2019s Attorney General and has faced scrutiny this election over her role in the alleged misappropriation of $10 million in taxpayer funds that were later diverted by the nonprofit Hope Foundation to serve Gov. DeSantis\u2019s political agenda.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a reason why my opponent won\u2019t debate me,\u201d Nixon told the crowd of Disney workers Tuesday. \u201cThere\u2019s a reason why she won\u2019t go on TV to answer questions. As a matter of fact, there\u2019s 10 million reasons why she won\u2019t,\u201d Nixon quipped, to laughter and applause.<\/p>\n Nixon participated in three campaign events in the Orlando area Tuesday, including two with U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a fellow progressive from California, at UCF and one at a French caf\u00e9 in Winter Garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the past weekend, Nixon also rallied with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a fellow pro-labor independent from Vermont who helped draw thousands of Floridians to campaign rallies in Tampa, Melbourne and Gainesville.<\/p>\n \u201cI was told that Florida is a red state,\u201d Sanders said at Ybor City\u2019s Cuban Club Saturday, speaking to a crowd of 2,000 on the outskirts of Tampa. \u201cWell, from up here, that doesn\u2019t look like that\u2019s the case.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans have a voter registration edge in Florida of more than 1.5 million over registered Democrats. Nixon was narrowly trailing behind Moody in a recent poll from the University of North Florida \u2014 behind by about 4 percentage points \u2014 although 5 percent of voters surveyed remain undecided.<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tNixon\u2019s platform for U.S Senate includes support for a $25 minimum wage, stronger worker protections, and universal healthcare through Medicare for All.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"Stay](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792651575_267_OW_JoinNewsletter_970x250_1.jpg\")
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