By Christine Sexton | Senior Reporter
“Angie Nixon is amazing. I’ve seen her all over social media and she’s really in favor of doing the right thing.”— FAMU alum Achaia Jackson
Student organizers at Florida A&M University protested the university police department’s cooperation with federal immigration efforts during Friday Oct. 23, 2026, homecoming festivities. Top-of-icket candidates David Jolly and Angie Nixon appeared before a rally on campus later in the day. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix)
Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly, a former Republican, and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon, who embraces Democratic Socialist principles, stood on a stage on FAMU’s campus Friday with famed film producer and FAMU alumnus Will Packer. Their message to the students, alumni, and locals who gathered on campus to take in the HBCU’s homecoming festivities was clear: get out and vote.
President Donald Trump held a rally Friday afternoon in Fort Myers. His mission was to inspire Florida Republicans to go to the polls and vote for GOP candidates, but particularly for gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds and Ashley Moody, who is running to retain her U.S. Senate seat. The president delivered his vote-Republican message at the beginning and end of his 90-minute speech. Trump, however, spent the majority of the time touting his own record over the last two years. In typical Trump style, the president also offered some stream-of-consciousness commentary.
The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature this year agreed to a mid-decade congressional redistricting and passed a map championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that redrew districts that some predicted could help flip four seats from Democrats to Republicans. As the 2026 General Election inches closer the Cook Political Report is finding that GOP wins in those districts (CD 22, CD 25, CD 14, and CD 9) may not be a given.
A federal appeals court ruled this week that Escambia County school board members may be deposed about why they removed books off of library shelves. PEN America’s Florida office director William Johnson lauded the ruling saying it affirms that the decisions to remove books are subject to public scrutiny. The Center was one of several plaintiffs that filed the underlying lawsuit in 2023 after Escambia County officials voted to remove books from the library.
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