{"id":437973,"date":"2026-10-26T03:28:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/437973\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T03:28:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:28:23","slug":"senate-race-heats-up-as-candidates-court-central-florida-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/437973\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate race heats up as candidates court Central Florida voters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">EATONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Rain did not keep candidates, supporters and voters away from Eatonville City Hall as Central Florida enters the final stretch before Election Day, with a closely watched U.S. Senate race helping drive turnout and campaign activity across the region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">One of the biggest races on the ballot is between Democrat Angie Nixon and incumbent Republican Sen. Ashley Moody. Both candidates have been making stops across Central Florida in the final days before voters head to the polls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Nixon rallied supporters Sunday at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Eatonville, urging them to stay engaged through the end of voting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cWe can win. We will win. We just have to get to work,\u201d Nixon told the crowd. \u201cI need your help now. I need you to push back on these lies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The Eatonville stop came during a busy campaign week for Nixon, who also visited Orlando on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cI want to improve the quality of life for folks,\u201d Nixon said. \u201cI\u2019m tired of all the hateful rhetoric, the disinformation. We need to stop that. People are hurting in this moment, and I want to ensure that they can no longer just survive, but they can thrive and flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Moody has also been campaigning across the state. On Saturday, she joined gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds for a stop in Clearwater. On Friday, she appeared with President Donald Trump at a rally in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cWe stood up when it mattered,\u201d Moody said. \u201cWhen it wasn\u2019t convenient. When people were criticizing because we were tethered to the principles of the United States of America that we love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The candidates have clashed over issues including Amendment 3, which would make changes to Florida\u2019s property tax system, as well as economic policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">For voters, pocketbook issues remain front and center. Some said the cost of living is shaping how they view the candidates and what they want from elected leaders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cGas prices are up for no reason. Cost of living is up for no reason. You\u2019re still working hard,\u201d one voter said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Jae Fortune, another voter, said the election is about whether leaders can improve people\u2019s daily lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cYou play with people\u2019s quality of life. You play with people\u2019s ability to feed their children,\u201d Fortune said. \u201cAnd you\u2019re going to see a strong reaction. And I expect we\u2019re going to see that on Election Day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Early voting is now available across Central Florida, with Sumter County joining the rest of the region. Polls are set to close next weekend before voters cast ballots on Election Day, Nov. 3.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EATONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Rain did not keep candidates, supporters and voters away from Eatonville City Hall as Central&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18523,3853,2715,28,30,29,4220],"class_list":["post-437973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-angie-nixon","tag-ashley-moody","tag-elections","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-voting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437973","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=437973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}