{"id":444620,"date":"2026-11-01T23:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T23:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/444620\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T23:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T23:10:10","slug":"angie-nixon-rallies-broward-voters-during-late-campaign-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/444620\/","title":{"rendered":"Angie Nixon rallies Broward voters during late campaign push"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon made multiple stops in Broward and Miami-Dade counties on Sunday, looking for late-campaign support at churches, early voting sites and a rain-soaked Souls to the Polls event.<\/p>\n

The day also brought her face-to-face, briefly, with U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Broward\u2019s most prominent Jewish elected official.<\/p>\n

The two Democrats embraced \u2014 a notable interaction because Nixon has had difficulties attracting support from some Jewish voters and community leaders, largely because of the view she shares with many in the party\u2019s progressive wing that Israel has committed genocide in the war with Gaza.<\/p>\n

The day\u2019s heavy rain helped bring them together under tents at a park next to the early voting site at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

Though this was the first public encounter, with pictures, Nixon said she and Wasserman Schultz have spoken during the course of the campaign.<\/p>\n

Their meeting was at what normally would be a rally sponsored by the NAACP that follows the traditional Souls to the Polls march down Sistrunk Boulevard, the historic main street of the Black community in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

Part of the parking lot at the early voting site and neighboring park was flooded, but Nixon professed enthusiasm. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice bunch of cars over there,\u201d which she said was a sign that people were still coming to vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people get discouraged from voting today because of the rain, they need to make sure that they figure out their polling location,\u201d Nixon said, adding that would be a focus of her campaign on Monday.<\/p>\n

Her arrival generated buzz and requests for selfies from many of the 50 people under another set of tents, where members of several of the Divine Nine historically Black fraternities and sororities served food, and another 50 at the second set of tents.<\/p>\n

Nixon\u2019s closing pitch, in a brief interview, was that \u201cWashington has lost its way, and in order for us to pull it back on the right track, in order for us to allow government to work for people, they\u2019ve got to vote for me,\u201d she said. \u201cIf not they\u2019re just gonna allow the billionaires to make more money off of us while we continue to work harder than them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Souls to the Polls events have become a tradition since Florida authorized in-person early voting in the early 2000s. They started with clergy at Black churches urging parishioners to leave services and head directly to the nearest early voting sites.<\/p>\n

Nixon said it\u2019s essential to encourage African American and Caribbean American voters to show up. \u201cIt\u2019s very important,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, we\u2019re being targeted and there\u2019s an attack on DEI and really it\u2019s an attack on blackness and Black people.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so it\u2019s going to be important for them to turn out, but it\u2019s important for everyone to turn out. We\u2019re all getting screwed. Unless you\u2019re ultra, ultra, ultra rich and wealthy, then you are one or two paychecks away from losing it all because you\u2019re getting too behind,\u201d Nixon said.<\/p>\n

Ashley Moody, the appointed Republican senator running to retain the seat, has focused much of her campaign portraying Nixon as far to the left of Florida voters.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, at a rally in The Villages in Central Florida, Moody told Republicans that her opponent was getting unsavory campaign help from out-of-state. \u201cThe commies are coming,\u201d Moody said. \u201cThere is an actual communist on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Moody repeated her claim that when Nixon \u201cis given a microphone, she likes to quote the \u2018Communist Manifesto.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And, last week, Moody said Democrats are like termites.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, I ain\u2019t never read a communist manifesto, as a matter of fact. Let\u2019s be clear. But all she can do is make up stuff and lies because she has a failed record,\u201d Nixon said.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody walks to the stage during a campaign stop in The Villages on Saturday, October 31, 2026. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

She said Moody, a two-term state attorney general before Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to fill a Senate vacancy, bears responsibility for Florida becoming \u201cthe least affordable state to live in,\u201d and failed to hold insurance companies accountable for not paying claims when people suffer losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAshley Moody is a horrible elected official, horrible, horrible, and we can change that when folks go vote for me,\u201d Nixon said.<\/p>\n

The average of public opinion polls, posted Sunday by FiftyPlusOne, shows Moody ahead of Nixon by six percentage points. On Thursday, the highly respected Cook Political Report moved its assessment of the contest slightly in the direction of Nixon, to \u201clikely Republican\u201d from \u201csolid Republican.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nixon started her day at a Colombian restaurant in Doral.<\/p>\n

She remained on Sistrunk Boulevard for an unpublicized, late lunch, at Smith\u2019s restaurant.<\/p>\n

She ordered lemon pepper wings, dry. Before she headed to her late afternoon and evening stops she paused to pray with Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Pamela Beasley-Pittman.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.U.S. Rep Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. left, U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon and community activist Henrietta Davis, right, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026 in Fort Lauderdale at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center at a Souls to the Polls pre-election event. (Joe Cavaretta\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
\nWet march, but optimism<\/p>\n

The traditional pre-election Souls to the Polls march down Sistrunk Boulevard from New Hope Missionary Baptist Church to the African American library usually draws dozens of candidates and hundreds of marchers.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, there were fewer than two dozen.<\/p>\n

Chris Smith, a former Democratic leader of the Florida House and Florida Senate who organizes the marches, said it was essential to carry on despite the rain, which held down turnout.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to show that even the rain doesn\u2019t stop us. To walk a mile and half in the rain shows it is important to our community to get the vote out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longtime community activist Henrietta Davis said it was essential to march. \u201cThis is very much important to me. It\u2019s time for a change. This is something I do every (election) year but this time it hit different, totally different. There is just so much at stake right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she wasn\u2019t going to be deterred by the rain; when she went to bed Saturday night, Davis said, \u201cSouls to the Polls was on my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Souls to the Polls events are usually billed as nonpartisan, they\u2019re aimed at turning out Democratic voters.<\/p>\n

Davis said she supports both Nixon and David Jolly, the Democratic candidate for governor even though the Republican nominee, Byron Donalds, would be the state\u2019s first Black governor. She said some, but not many, Black voters would vote for Donalds. She said what candidates \u201coffer the people,\u201d not their race, is most important.<\/p>\n

Wasserman Schultz is running in a newly crafted congressional district that includes the Sistrunk community. Even when she didn\u2019t represent the area, she\u2019s been a Souls participant for years.<\/p>\n

\"Democrats,Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, march in a rainstorm down Sistrunk Boulevard, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale. The Souls to the Polls event takes place on the last Sunday before elections. (Joe Cavaretta\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

She said it reminds all voters that they need to turn out on Tuesday if they haven\u2019t voted early or by mail. \u201cSouls to the Polls Sunday is not just about the Black community. It is about the whole community,\u201d Wasserman Schultz said.<\/p>\n

Smith, who left elected office in 2016 and now practices law and operates Smitty\u2019s Wings Sistrunk, a restaurant he founded six years ago with his late wife, said he senses lots of interest in voting this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are just really excited to vote,\u201d he said. Eyeing the rain, he said he went to buy a new tent at Walmart on Sunday morning. The cashier asked if he was getting it \u201cfor the vote stuff\u201d and proudly informed Smith she had already voted.<\/p>\n

Political writer Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon made multiple stops in Broward and Miami-Dade counties on Sunday, looking for late-campaign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,2715,28,29,249,251,250,114,266,5741,5742,115,99,109],"class_list":["post-444620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-elections","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-national-news","tag-national-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444620","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=444620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}