Florida U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon, a Democrat and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is pushing back on claims that she supports abolishing prisons, arguing that her desire to see her opponent, Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, “locked up and punished” proves otherwise.
Nixon made the comments during an appearance on CNN with host Kasie Hunt, responding to campaign ads she says falsely claim she wants to abolish prisons and defund the police.
“The fact remains that Ashley Moody is a lying, cheating, thieving, scamming person who basically took $10 million from sick kids for the Medicaid program,” Nixon said.
Nixon was referring to the ongoing controversy surrounding the Hope Florida Foundation. She alleges Moody “rerouted” funds “into two political slush funds for Ron DeSantis to defeat two citizen-led ballot initiatives,” and criticized Moody for voting to end health coverage for more than 440,000 Floridians.
“Why would I want to do that when I want her locked up and punished in jail for what she has done?” Nixon said.
When Hunt pressed her directly, asking, “You want your Republican opponent locked up?” Nixon confirmed the statement.
“Basically, yes. Because of what she did, yes. I absolutely would want that to happen. Yes,” Nixon said.
The Hope Florida Dispute
Nixon’s accusations center on claims that funds connected to the Hope Florida Foundation were misused to oppose Amendment 3, the 2024 marijuana ballot measure. The DeSantis administration has firmly denied any wrongdoing.
Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote that Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal “eviscerated the phony narratives” surrounding the Agency for Health Care Administration’s pre-suit settlement and a private donation to the Department of Children and Families’ direct support organization, Hope Florida. DeSantis said there was no misappropriation, no tax dollars involved, and no Medicaid money connected to the donation.
Moody, Florida’s former attorney general, has also denied wrongdoing, saying she did not know where the funds would ultimately be directed. A grand jury report on the matter was later expunged, and no charges have been filed.
In an August social media post, Moody said the settlement agreement with Centene Corporation was negotiated by AHCA, which determined how the money, including funds for Hope Florida, would be distributed. She said her office was simply one of several agencies that signed off on the final agreement, as is standard practice.
“The AG’s office had no knowledge of how funds would be spent or played any role in how Hope Florida, AHCA, or the legislature would spend the settlement money. Attempts to characterize this any other way are disingenuous,” Moody said.
Nixon Calls for Investigation
Despite acknowledging there isn’t currently enough evidence to bring charges against Moody, Nixon said she would push for a federal investigation if elected.
“What we have seen is that the DCA, the first DCA here, has decided to wipe out the release of the grand jury report, and that first DCA judge was actually appointed by Ron DeSantis. And what we are seeing is corruption through and through,” Nixon said.
“I would definitely call for an investigation as a federal lawmaker when I become a U.S. senator to actively go in to see what happened. People are pissed off. We don’t know how many children are potentially going to die because that $10 million did not go to where it was supposed to go to,” she said.
Nixon is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization whose platform includes calls to abolish the prison system.
