Vice President JD Vance flew into deep-red Polk County, Florida on Thursday to campaign for Republican candidates Byron Donalds and Ashley Moody, and he did not exactly show up with a hug for the other side. Speaking at a rally inside an airplane hangar at Lakeland Linder International Airport, Vance trained his sharpest fire on Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon, who he said had joined the Democratic Socialists of America this summer.
“When Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, I think the right response is to say, ‘Then get the hell out of here. You don’t belong in America,'” Vance told the crowd to loud cheers. He noted, because apparently it needed noting, that socialism is not a big seller with South Florida Hispanic voters. Groundbreaking political analysis from the guy who is somehow already the frontrunner for 2028.
Nixon Fires Back, Tries Making Eyeliner Joke
Nixon did not wait long to respond. In a written statement, she came out swinging with a line for the ages: “I don’t wanna COUCH my words here: I know JD Vance, his eyeliner, and Absent Ashley Moody are used to running away from people when things get tough because they care more about themselves and their billionaire buddies than the people they represent. But this is my home.”
She continued: “The most ordinary man imaginable came to my home state to tell me to get out of America while he and Absent Ashley enjoyed the comfort of buildings my ancestors helped build.” She closed with a promise: “I’m not going any damn place.” Say what you will about her politics, the woman can write a statement. Vance also mocked Nixon’s Jacksonville bookstore, Cafe Resistance, saying it carries titles by people who killed police officers and those who argue the country was founded in 1619, not 1776. He urged the crowd to spread the word about “how crazy Angie Nixon actually is,” which, to be fair, is a normal thing to say about your political opponent and not about your barista.
Vance then pivoted to Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, whom he derided as a man who never held a “real job.” For the record, Vance rally in Florida notes that Jolly worked for longtime Pinellas County congressman Bill Young for more than a decade, became a lobbyist, served in the U.S. House, and then became a cable news commentator at CNN and MSNBC. Vance offered a generous suggestion for Jolly after he loses next month: a podcast “with all of 19 listeners.”
It’s good to see someone from the ‘tolerable left’ mocking someone for appearance. Hypocrites, right?
MAGA Pep Rally, Economic Scorecards, and One Ejected Democrat
Vance also touted the Trump administration’s record, saying more than one million private-sector jobs have been created since Trump’s second term began. The Associated Press puts the actual number closer to 807,000, but who is counting. He added that inflation has dropped from a Biden-era peak of 8 percent down to 3 percent, that pharmaceutical drug prices are at their lowest since the 1960s, and that the national murder rate is at a 126-year low, a figure backed up by an FBI report from August showing the estimated rate fell to 4.1 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The crowd was enthusiastic. The broader public, less so. An AP-NORC poll found that just 17 percent of U.S. adults approve of President Trump’s handling of the cost of living, and only 26 percent approve of his handling of the economy overall, a new low. Somewhere between the hangar and the polls, the message is getting lost.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried called the event another “MAGA pep rally” and suggested Republicans were too busy “proving their loyalty to Donalds Trump” to address Floridians’ real concerns. She also flagged reports that Byron Donalds had quietly scrubbed Trump’s name from his campaign website, a move Trump himself called “fake news” on social media before warning that dropping him would be a losing strategy. Vance’s visit, in other words, may have partly been a loyalty check disguised as a pep rally.
Two attendees were removed from the event for shouting at Vance, including Florida state House Democrat Ben Braver, who had also been ejected from a Donalds-DeSantis event in Tampa last month. Vance called him “a Democrat plant” and said Floridians would kick out Democrats just like they kicked him out. Braver is apparently developing a talent for getting thrown out of Republican rallies, which, if nothing else, is a very specific niche.
With mail ballots already going out and 33 days left before the midterms, Florida Republicans have the registration advantage, 1.5 million more than Democrats by Vance’s own count. But September was the first month in five years in which Florida Democrats registered more new voters than Republicans, by a margin of 493. That is not exactly a blue wave, but it is enough to make a vice president fly down and remind everyone who is in charge. Whether Florida voters agree comes in November.
