Florida Democrats Denounce Leftwing Senate Hopeful Angie Nixon’s Comment About Whether the Cuban Government Is a Dictatorship

The Democratic Senate nominee in Florida, Angie Nixon, is facing condemnation from within her own party after she did not simply state that the Cuban government is a dictatorship, but instead said she had not visited the Communist country to find out for herself. In an interview with CBS News, Ms. Nixon — a member of the Democratic Socialists of America — was confronted with concerns Cuban American voters have about her. CBS News’s Miami correspondent, Cristian Benavides, asked, “Do you consider that Cuba is a dictatorship?”“You know, that is what people have told me. I have never been to Cuba, and so I will have to take their word for it,” she said. Ms. Nixon then pivoted to criticizing America’s embargo against Cuba, saying the trade restrictions have made conditions worse for Cubans.The comment went viral after CBS News shared that the Senate hopeful declined to answer the question. The X post was deleted and replaced with a note that said it “did not accurately portray” her comments.Ms. Nixon has defended her response while blasting CBS News for a “serious failure of editorial reporting.” She wrote on X, “I clearly state in this clip that while I have not personally been to Cuba, I have spoken with Cubans who have described it as a dictatorship, and I believe them.”Still, her response in the interview drew condemnation from Republicans and Democrats in the Sunshine State who said the answer should have been a simple yes.“Socialist Angie can’t answer if Cuba is a dictatorship? I guess now we know why she voted against the Florida law to require schools to teach the dangers of communism,” Ms. Nixon’s opponent, Senator Ashley Moody, wrote on X. A Democrat running in Florida’s 28th Congressional District, in South Florida, Phil Ehr, wrote on X that anyone running for Senate should be able to say: “Cuba is a communist dictatorship.”“Angie Nixon has never been to Gaza, yet she has had no problem calling what happened there a genocide and encouraging others to antagonize those supporting Israel’s right to exist,” he wrote, saying that her answer was “profoundly disturbing.”Mr. Ehr sought to distance himself from the leftwing Senate nominee, saying, “If the Democratic party is unwilling to condemn [her comments], I will.”“Cuba being a dictatorship is not a matter of opinion. It is a fact,” added a Democrat running in Florida’s 27th Congressional District, Eliott Rodriguez. The executive director of the nonpartisan Cuba Study Group, Ricardo Herrero, argued that the full clip of the CBS News interview “isn’t better” for Ms. Nixon. He said that she “gets only half of it right” by criticizing what he called “counterproductive U.S. policy,” but he said she refused to “acknowledge the authoritarian nature of Cuba’s single-party communist government.”The controversial answer comes as Democrats have been feeling increasingly bullish about the leftwing candidate’s chances of flipping a Senate seat in ruby-red Florida despite polls suggesting otherwise. On Saturday, President Obama posted a video endorsing Ms. Nixon and the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, David Jolly. Several high-profile Democrats have also made appearances with Ms. Nixon in recent days. Earlier this month, Senator Bernie Sanders held a rally with Ms. Nixon, and Vice President Harris is scheduled to hold a virtual fundraiser for her on Tuesday evening. A Univision/YouGov poll released earlier this month found Ms. Moody leading by nine points. And RealClearPolitics’ average of polls shows the Republican incumbent with a 7.3-point lead. But Democrats are hoping they can energize young voters with Ms. Nixon’s campaign platform, which calls for Medicare for All and a $25 minimum wage. A University of North Florida poll released on Wednesday found that 68 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 24 said they support Ms. Nixon while 25 percent said they support Ms. Moody. Fifty-nine percent of voters between the ages of 25 and 34 said they support the Democrat while 32 percent said they support Ms. Moody. Motivating young voters to actually cast their ballots is the challenge. Data from Tufts University showed that in 2024, only about half of eligible Gen Z voters nationwide actually voted. The University of North Florida poll released on Wednesday found that Ms. Moody was leading by four points overall, outside of the survey’s margin of error. That margin is significantly smaller than Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s nearly 16-point victory in his 2022 Senate reelection.

Florida Democrats Denounce Leftwing Senate Hopeful Angie Nixon’s Comment About Whether the Cuban Government Is a Dictatorship

Florida Democrats Denounce Leftwing Senate Hopeful Angie Nixon’s Comment About Whether the Cuban Government Is a Dictatorship

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