Politics
Nixon’s Cuba remarks draw criticism as Florida Senate race enters final week
Florida Senate candidate Angie Nixon faced criticism from Republicans and fellow Democrats after saying she had never visited Cuba and would have to rely on others’ accounts to describe its government as a dictatorship. She also renewed her call to rethink the decades-old U.S. embargo, saying Cuban American families told her relatives on the island are suffering.
Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon’s response to a question about Cuba’s government has drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats as she campaigns for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Ashley Moody.
In a CBS interview, Nixon was asked whether she considers Cuba a dictatorship. “That is what people have told me,” she replied, adding that she had never been to Cuba and would “have to take their word for it.”
Nixon then argued that the decades-long U.S. embargo has failed to change Cuba’s government. She said Cuban Americans in Florida had told her that relatives in Cuba are suffering more because of the policy.
Eliott Rodriguez, a Democratic candidate for Florida House District 27, criticized Nixon’s answer in a social media post. “Cuba being a dictatorship is not a matter of opinion. It is a fact,” he wrote, while noting that he and Nixon agree on some issues, including lowering costs for working families.
Republicans also attacked what they characterized as a noncommittal response. NBC6 political analyst Alex Pinellas said the comments could hurt Nixon among Cuban American voters, particularly older members of the exile community who came to the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. He added that many in that group were unlikely to support Nixon regardless.
Nixon, a progressive and Democratic Socialists of America member, won the Democratic Senate primary in August. She is challenging Moody, who was appointed to the Senate after serving as Florida attorney general.
An NBC6/Telemundo poll published earlier in October found the contest divided sharply by party: 87% of registered Democrats said they supported Nixon, compared with 5% for Moody, while 91% of registered Republicans backed Moody and 3% supported Nixon. The poll also found that 52% of respondents would be less likely to vote for a self-described Democratic Socialist, 8% more likely and 35% said the label would make no difference.
The debate over Cuba policy carries particular political weight in South Florida, where Cuban American voters include generations of people with close ties to the island and differing views on the U.S. embargo.