Angie Nixon Says Black Republican Byron Donalds “Doesn’t Support Black People”

Florida is becoming one of the bigger enigmas of the already-puzzling 2026 election season. Democrats are showing themselves to be surprisingly competitive. Democrat David Jolly is running neck-and-neck with Trump-approved Republican Byron Donalds in two of three recent polls for the governor job.

And Jacksonville legislator and DSA member Angie Nixon , having upset moderate Democrat Alex Vindman in the primary, now is at least keeping it close against Republican incumbent Ashley Moody. All of which is startling in a state that went for Donald Trump by 13 points just two years ago and hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since 1994. Related Stories News Half a Scaramucci: White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Ousted After One Briefing Business BBC Asks Judge to Force Trump to Sit for Deposition in His Own Lawsuit Against Broadcaster

On an upcoming episode of Crooked Media’s YouTube show Long Play, Nixon lets it fly against the Republican gubernatorial candidate. “Byron Donalds doesn’t support Black people,” she tells hosts Jennifer Palmieri and Errin Haines on camera in an early cut of the episode, which debuts Monday. Haines then follows up by asking Nixon to explain what she means when she says that Donalds is “going to bring back the worst parts of our history.” Nixon replies, “I mean, he is someone who said that Black people were better off during the Jim Crow era.”

The race has grown contentious but seems to be reaching a new level of fervor as it heads into the final two weeks.

Nixon has said at rallies that she wants to keep funding the police, referring to a common anti-DSA knock, because she wants Moody, Ron DeSantis and Trump locked up. For his part, vice president J.D. Vance said recently at a rally, addressing Nixon, “Get the hell out of here, you don’t belong in America.” (Nixon in the episode: “They don’t have anything to run on but cruelty.”)

Meanwhile, Donalds has been criticized by Jolly for not extending leniency to young people that he was shown when he was arrested on drug charges as a young man and given the opportunity of a diversion program; a hot-button new ad has a retired U.S. General calling Donalds “weak” and a “hypocrite” for it. (Palmieri and Haines discuss the ad in the new episode.)

Launched earlier this year , Long Play examines the divisions and shifting political alignments in various Southern states. After concluding its first season with trips to Georgia, Texas and other Southern states, the show kicks off its second season ahead of the midterms with a Florida episode.

Five flagship and three bonus episodes are planned, straddling both sides of the midterms and set in Texas and Georgia, where close Senate races are unfolding, among other states. The overall goal remains to recalibrate perceptions of the region as a GOP stronghold, which principals say is far too simplistic and out of date.

In Florida, Donalds has looked to court the Black vote to gain the governorship. “You’ve been faithful to that [Democratic] party, have they been faithful to you?,” he recently told an audience at HBCU Florida A&M.