TAMPA, Fla. — A soaking drizzle did not thin the crowd Saturday when U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders brought his campaign swing to the courtyard of the Cuban Club in Tampa’s Ybor City to push Democrat Angie Nixon in her race for a U.S. Senate seat from Florida.
Close to 2,200 people turned out for the rally, the opening stop on a four-city Florida tour for the pair. Nixon, 42, who represents a Jacksonville district in the Florida House, is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Ashley Moody.
Sanders told the crowd Nixon had won her primary while being outspent by roughly 15 to one and without help from the party establishment, and he predicted she would win in November too. He cast the contest as a fight over the power of billionaires in politics and called for ending super PACs and the unlimited money that flows to candidates.
Nixon, who warmed up the audience with a dance on stage before introducing Sanders, reminded supporters that election day was 17 days away. She laid out a platform built on Medicare for All, living wages, higher taxes on the wealthy and stronger unions, and pushed back on Republicans who have labeled her views radical and extreme.
She faces a steep climb. The Cook Political Report lists the seat as safe for the GOP, which it calls solid Republican, and Moody has led most head-to-head surveys, in some by up to 11 points. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats in Florida by about 1.5 million. Nixon did raise more money than Moody last quarter, though the incumbent still has more cash on hand.
Sanders has already campaigned this cycle for Democrats in Maine and California.
Section: More Tampa FL politics news
Filed under: Tampa FL Politics News
