This Florida Democrat is not afraid to fight for voting rights

This Florida Democrat is not afraid to fight for voting rights
After disrupting a congressional map vote, Angie Nixon is making her case for the Senate

By Tatyana Tandanpolie
Staff Reporter
Published July 7, 2026 6:30AM (EDT)


(Salon) In a moment when Black Americans’ voting rights seem under threat, state Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Fla., finds herself aiming to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors and mentors. She takes inspiration from elder and fellow state Rep. Yvonne Hinson, D-Fla., who stood up to horrors while fighting for the right to vote during the Civil Rights Movement and, at 79, tells Nixon she’s tired of battling her Republican colleagues to maintain it.

“Who am I to sit around and to not answer the call,” Nixon, a Jacksonville native, told Salon in a video interview, underscoring Hinson’s adamance that they’re not going back to the time before the Civil Rights Act. “It cost me nothing to disrupt what was happening.”

Nixon, who represents Florida’s predominantly Black, 13th House District, is running for U.S. Senate to take on the rest of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s six-year term. With the Democratic primary just over a month away, she’s pitching herself as a fierce progressive not unlike the freedom fighters of the Civil Rights Movement that inspired her, at least in her willingness to put herself on the line for a chance at effecting change.

“A lot of [voters] want someone who’s going to fight back and not just give strongly-worded debates and speeches or write strongly-worded emails or letters to the editor,” Nixon said, reflecting on how Floridians have received her protests. “They want someone that they know is going to fight for them and actually bring forth good ideas on how we can build a new vision for our country, one where hardworking everyday people get to shape what our communities look like and what our economies are.” ......................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/07/07/this-florida-democrat-is-not-afraid-to-fight-for-voting-rights/