The Left is insane. But this is the craziest thing we’ve seen.
Now a Democrat candidate completely blew it by confessing to one horrific reality.
It is the easiest question in American politics, and Angie Nixon could not answer it. Florida’s Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, was asked on Politico’s The Conversation whether she is a capitalist or a socialist. Her answer, repeated three times in a row, was: “I don’t know.”
Interviewer Dasha Burns pressed her on her DSA membership, noting that Nixon had previously identified herself as a capitalist despite joining the socialist organization. Nixon began by emphasizing her support for government assistance programs. Then she said, “I’m a capitalist who believes that we need some strong regulation.”
Pushed to clarify, she retreated into vagueness. “I live in a capitalistic society… you can call me whatever you want,” she said. When Burns asked again, the answer was even less clear. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Like, I don’t know,” Nixon said.
The answer drew sharp criticism from a Republican senator, and it landed awkwardly given her earlier statements. Fox News noted that she had previously rejected the socialist label, even as she remained a member of an organization with “Socialists” in its name.
The background makes the answer harder to explain. Nixon’s campaign confirmed to The Hill that she is a member of DSA, as well as the Working Families Party, the Service Employees International Union and the Democratic Party. Asked about joining the group in an NBC News interview, she said, “Look, we can argue all day about people’s labels, but at the end of the day, I care about the needs of people.”
A label might not matter if the platform did not. DSA’s program calls for eliminating the United States Senate, the very body Nixon is seeking to join, replacing the presidency and Supreme Court with institutions selected by Congress, defunding the Department of War and granting amnesty to all immigrants. Voters in Florida, a state that is home to many who fled socialist regimes, have every right to ask whether she agrees with those goals.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican who fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba, was unsparing when he reacted to Nixon’s earlier denials. “I don’t know what the heck she thought she was joining… Socialists [and] communists, deny what they are until they get into power,” he told Fox News Digital. For people who have lived under such systems, a candidate’s refusal to define her politics is not a quirk. It is a warning.
The Cuba question has come up for Nixon, too. In an interview with CBS News, she was asked whether she considers Cuba a dictatorship. Her answer began, “You know, that is what people have told me.” For a Senate candidate in Florida, a state whose politics have been shaped by exiles from Havana, that is not the answer voters are looking for.
None of this makes her an easy target to dismiss. Nixon’s primary win was one of the biggest upsets of the cycle. She defeated establishment favorite Alex Vindman despite being outraised by more than 16 to 1, and The Hill noted it was the first time a democratic socialist won a Democratic primary for Senate or governor this year. Voters rewarded something about her message, and her supporters see authenticity in an outsider challenging the party’s insiders.
The Florida contest is also a special election for the final two years of Marco Rubio’s Senate term, which means a full six-year race follows in 2028. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports Nixon is trailing by between 4 and 6 percentage points in the latest polls, and that her stance on Israel has divided Jewish voters, some of whom say she has toned down her opposition while others remain uneasy.
There is a point of fairness worth making. Not every candidate fits neatly into a label, and plenty of Americans hold mixed views: they believe in markets and in a strong safety net, and they get impatient with litmus tests. If Nixon’s answer had been “I support a market economy with strong protections for workers,” most voters would have found it reasonable.
That is not what she said. She said she does not know, which suggests either genuine uncertainty about a basic question that her own organization has answered in its name, or an effort to avoid an answer she thinks will cost her votes. Neither is reassuring for someone asking to cast votes on taxes, regulation and the size of government.
Voters should ask her to explain, in plain language, which parts of the DSA platform she supports and which she rejects. They should ask whether she agrees that the Senate should be abolished. And they should expect an answer that does not depend on what the person asking wants to hear.
Candidates do not have to use labels. But they do have to tell voters what they believe. Until Nixon can say whether she stands for markets or for socialism, Florida voters are entitled to wonder what she stands for at all.
