Florida socialist vows to abolish ICE and defend drag queen shows for children

Avowed socialist Angie Nixon, who recently won Florida’s Democratic Senate primary against Trump foe Alex Vindman, is doubling down on her radical positions, including eliminating immigration enforcement and supporting drag performances for children.

On her campaign website, Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), pledges to “abolish” U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and curtail the prison system. “I don’t believe any person is illegal, and I don’t believe human beings should be treated as commodities in a system built to punish rather than to heal,” the Senate candidate said on her website. “Real safety comes from good jobs, strong schools, affordable housing, and healthcare for all — not from more cameras, more cages, and more agents tearing families apart. It is time we had the courage to say it plainly: mass incarceration and mass deportation are moral failures, and I will fight in the United States Senate to end them.”

Nixon’s campaign promises include decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level, terminating prison time for drug offenses, “demilitarizing” police and replacing officers with “community-based public safety, violence prevention and crisis response” personnel, creating a “humane immigration system, including a swift path to citizenship for Dreamers and undocumented residents, and a moratorium on deportations pending a full audit of enforcement practices,” and abolishing ICE altogether.

On her website, Nixon pledges to “dismantle” ICE, claiming that the agency tasked by President Donald Trump with conducting the mass deportation of illegal aliens operates “with almost no accountability” and is incapable of “reform.”

Nixon classified abolishing ICE and effectively eliminating much of the U.S. prison system as “priorities.”

In an interview on the “Legal AF” podcast shortly before the primary election, Nixon also defended exposing children to drag shows, confirming that she had brought her own children to such performances. 

“I don’t understand, like, there’s no sexualization at a drag show! It’s just people dressing up and singing and performing! I’ve taken my children to drag shows, and it’s fun! It’s entertainment,” Nixon said. “It’s wholesome entertainment and it’s nothing wrong. It’s just like, I don’t get it.”

The DSA candidate also took aim at Florida’s 2023 “Protection of Children Act” (SB 1438), which bars exposing children to sexually explicit or sexually suggestive live performances, including drag shows. 

“What that is telling me is that there’s an attack on an 'othering' of people who don’t look like Donald Trump,” Nixon claimed. “Like, it is just an attack on marginalized communities. They want to create this country that looks a certain way, that acts a certain way, that believes a certain way. And it’s frustrating.”

In the midterm election in November, Nixon will face incumbent U.S. Senator Ashley Moody, R-Fla., the former Florida attorney general who was appointed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to fill the Senate seat left vacant by longtime senator Marco Rubio, now the Secretary of State.

Nixon is the latest DSA-aligned candidate to ascend in Democratic primaries for federal office, joining others in embracing radical policy planks. Darializa Avila Chevalier, for example, defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., in June and will now run on the Democratic ticket to represent New York’s 13th congressional district. Like Nixon, Chevalier pledges to abolish ICE. 

“This agency exists to control our communities, not to keep us safe. It was created in 2002: we can return to a world where it does not exist,” Chevalier’s website states.

Chevalier, who converted to Islam in 2018, also supports “housing for all,” “medicare for all,” and “economic security for all,” common DSA campaign promises.