Joy-Ann Reid Says Democrats Fought Florida Nominee Harder Than Donald Trump

Joy-Ann Reid accused her own party's leadership of treating Angie Nixon, the Florida state representative who is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, as an enemy. She said on The Joy Reid Show that Nixon was made to wait for money because of her ties to the Democratic Socialists of America.

"Angie Nixon, again, they fought her like she was on the other side," Reid said. "They were fighting her harder in the Democratic establishment than they have ever fought Trump."

The line is hyperbole, and Reid gave no figures to back it up. But it came with a wider complaint. Reid said a group of Black and progressive Southern Democrats had to "really fight for even a dime from the party" in races she called winnable, a week before the Nov. 3 midterms.

Joy-Ann Reid Faults Party Leadership Over Angie Nixon

Reid broadcast from a bus between Atlanta and Tallahassee on her Midterminology Tour of the South. She said Nixon "had to wait till almost dead last to get any money from the party because of her connections with DSA." Reid also cast Nixon as a mainstream figure: "She's not a socialist. She's just a Democrat who's a progressive."

Nixon used her own appearance on the show to describe the affiliation in narrower terms. "You know, I joined DSA back in June, but I don't subscribe to labels," she said, adding that she is also a member of the Working Families Party and a lifetime member of the NAACP.

Reid's message to party leaders was blunt: "They've got to figure it out. And they also have to stop resisting the Democrats who the base wants."

What National Democrats Have Put Into Florida

MS NOW reported in September that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced a $40 million investment across 10 states, including Florida, in late July, and that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and DSCC Chair Kirsten Gillibrand had each given the $5,000 maximum from their leadership PACs and opened a joint fundraising committee with her campaign. Nixon told the outlet that Schumer's answer on bigger support was "basically a 'we will see.'"

The money gap is wide. Nixon had raised less than $1 million through the end of July. Republican Senator Ashley Moody, whom Governor Ron DeSantis appointed to Marco Rubio's old seat, had raised $11.3 million, according to the same report.

Barack Obama endorsed Nixon in a video, with early voting already under way.

Joy-Ann Reid Widens the Complaint to the South

Reid said that apart from James Talarico in Texas, most of the Southern candidates she named had to fight the party for money, naming Charles Booker in Kentucky, Scott Colom in Mississippi, Chris Jones in Arkansas, Justin J. Pearson in Tennessee and Nixon. "These guys have had to really fight for even a dime from the party and for attention from the party," she said. "This strikes me as having been very short-sighted, because these races are winnable."

She offered two explanations without picking one: "it seems that the people are too progressive for the party, I guess, the leadership, or maybe because they're black and in the South. I don't understand it." Her co-host Touré, the author and former MSNBC host, replied: "No, I cannot explain it."

The five are running in different kinds of races:

• Scott Colom is challenging Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi. On Oct. 20, Senate Majority PAC announced its first ad in the race, a $1.2 million TV buy for Colom.
• Charles Booker is the Democratic Senate nominee in Kentucky, running against Republican Representative Andy Barr.
• Chris Jones is challenging Republican Representative French Hill in Arkansas' 2nd District. The DCCC has named it a "District in Play". On the show, Reid called him a rocket scientist, and Jones described himself as an ordained minister.
• Justin J. Pearson, a state representative, faces Republican state Senator Brent Taylor in the redrawn 9th District.

How Close the Florida Senate Race Is

Nixon told the show, "It is so close. Like we are within the margin of error." She argued that surveys understate her support because "they're only polling likely voters," while her campaign is chasing people who do not usually turn out in midterms.

The public numbers are less kind. PolitiKool's polling average has Moody ahead 49.9 percent to 42.7 percent, a 7.2-point lead. A Mason-Dixon poll of 625 registered voters, a wider pool than likely voters, taken Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, put Moody up 50 percent to 40 percent, outside its 4-point margin of error.

The other Senate races Reid named are also uphill. PolitiKool's polling average has Hyde-Smith up 6.2 points over Colom, and PolitiKool's polling average shows Barr up 10.9 points over Booker.