JD Vance told a crowd in Florida on Thursday that Angie Nixon, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, should get out of the country because she calls herself a socialist.
“Ladies and gentlemen, when Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, I think the right response is to say: ‘Then get the hell out of here. You don’t belong in America if those are your views,'” Vance said.
The vice president was campaigning for Republican Senator Ashley Moody, who faces Nixon in November, along with Representative Byron Donalds, who is running for governor. The rally was held in an airplane hangar at Lakeland Linder International Airport.
Nixon was born and raised in Jacksonville. She has represented the city’s Moncrief neighborhood in the Florida House since 2020 and describes herself as a union organizer and a mother. In August, she pulled off an upset in the Democratic primary, beating retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman 55.7% to 44.3% even though he outraised her by roughly 17 to 1. Her campaign has focused on the cost of living and the economic needs of working people.
Socialism generally means wanting the government or the public to have more control over key parts of the economy, like healthcare, housing and wages, instead of leaving them mostly to private companies. Democratic socialists say they want to get there through elections and laws.
Vance did not stop at telling Angie Nixon to leave. He called her a “self-professed socialist who somehow owns two homes” and went after her support for defunding the police and abolishing prisons, then joked that it was hard to square with what he called her other favorite demand, arresting Trump. Moody told the crowd that Nixon wants to destroy the framework the country was built on. At least two hecklers were removed from the rally while Vance was speaking.
Nixon has built a reputation in Tallahassee for confronting Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican majority head on. Earlier this year, she staged a sit in at the governor’s office, and in April, the Florida House formally reprimanded her for using a bullhorn on the House floor during a fight over redrawing the state’s congressional maps.
Nixon has not publicly responded to Vance’s comments. Before the rally, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement that Trump and Vance have made life unaffordable for working families and that voters will hold Republicans accountable in about a month.
