Angie Nixon wants to 'lock up' Republican opponent, claims she 'took $10 million from sick kids'

Angie Nixon, a current State Senate Representative and running for the US Senate in Florida, said on CNN Wednesday that she doesn’t want to abolish prisons because she wants her political opponent put in prison. 

On CNN’s “The Arena,” hosted by Kasie Hunt, Nixon said that there have been a lot of "lies" going around about Nixon wanting to abolish prisons. Nixon stated, “why would I want to do that when I want her locked up and punished in jail for what she has done,” referring to her political opponent, incumbent Republican Senator Ashley Moody.

Hunt responded, “You want your Republican opponent locked up?”

Nixon replied, “Yeah, basically, yes. Because of what she did. Yes, I absolutely would want that to happen. Yes.”

Chris Murphy, Democrat Senator from Connecticut, sat silently beside Nixon during the exchange, nodding along at one point. One user on X posted, “the face of a man who knows her campaign is over and he’s made a huge mistake,” and then tagged Murphy.

Nixon claimed that Moody is “a lying, cheating, thieving, scamming person, who basically took $10 million from sick kids for the Medicaid program. And she rerouted that into two political slush funds for Ron DeSantis to defeat two citizen-led ballot initiatives.”

A state grand jury found in August that the DeSantis administration "misappropriated" taxpayer money by diverting $10 million from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation. The grand jury said that those funds passed through multiple organizations before landing in bank accounts for Republican political action committees and were used to defeat an effort to legalize marijuana, per CBS News. The grand jury said that then-state attorney general Moody was aware of the plans and authorized her chief deputy to sign the agreement.

In October, however, a Florida appeals court ordered that the grand jury report be expunged, ruling that the grand jury had overstepped its authority by accusing people of wrongdoing without indicting them. The court said a grand jury could investigate and report its findings, but could not declare unlawful conduct and decide not to bring charges or accuse people of wrongdoing by name without indicting them. The grand jury had said in its report that there was insufficient evidence to bring forth charges. 

Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has supported “Medicare for All,” and is said to be facing an uphill battle against Moody in the red state. Bernie Sanders has announced that he will be in Florida this weekend to campaign for her, according to the Hill.