A Democratic state lawmaker who held a sit-in protest in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Capitol office lobby was arrested on a trespassing charge May 15 after she refused law enforcement’s requests to leave.
Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat and candidate for the U.S. Senate, planted herself in the governor’s office, clad in her trademark pink, vowing not to leave until DeSantis met with her and agreed to another special legislative session to again redraw Florida’s congressional map.
Nixon, however, cast her protest as more than a dispute over redistricting, saying the fight over maps reflects a broader failure of state leadership to address Florida’s affordability crisis. She said Republican leaders are pursuing what she called an illegal partisan gerrymander while ignoring rising costs of living and spending millions of taxpayer dollars on what she said were DeSantis’ questionable priorities.
Earlier in the week, she was reprimanded by the House Rules & Ethics Committee for a previous incident at the end of the redistricting special session, when she walked up and down the center aisle of the House on April 29 shouting through a small pink megaphone.
Shortly after 5 p.m., what appeared to be a plain-clothed police officer told Nixon, a small group of her supporters and a handful of reporters they had to leave. “This is your one warning you will get right now,” the man said.
Nixon asked if she had to leave, mentioning she was a lawmaker. She was told she could stand out in the hallway, but that she couldn’t stand behind the doors of the Governor’s office. Nixon, who by that point was leaning against the counter in the lobby, didn’t budge.
As reporters walked out of the Capitol, a team of uniformed and plain-clothes Capitol Police walked toward the office, with some saying press had to leave immediately. By 5:25 p.m., DeSantis chief of staff Jason Weida posted on X: “Reprimanded and now arrested.”
It appeared two other women with Nixon, who were not identified, also were briefly taken into custody.
Nixon, who was not taken to jail, later confirmed with a Tallahassee Democrat photojournalist that she was arrested: “They asked if I was going to leave and I told them no. I was there for the governor. They detained me. … I have a court date in June for a first appearance.”
“… I’m annoyed. I mean, it’s petty,” she added. Nixon was not listed in Leon County court dockets as of 6:30 p.m.
The incident unfolded quite differently from a 2023 Dream Defenders sit-in in which the press was not removed from the building, and 14 people were arrested after they refused to leave during a protest of DeSantis’ policies.
Protest tied to affordability, representation
Nixon began the one-person sit-in around 1 p.m. in the reception area, shortly after the governor signed a campus safety bill into law almost 500 miles away in Miami. She said a receptionist told her someone would come speak with her.
Nearly two hours later, no one had returned and the only visible presence was a single armed law enforcement officer in a bulletproof vest. “I’m still here. I’m not leaving,” Nixon said.
She said working Floridians are being ignored while GOP political priorities occupy center stage. “People are hurting in the state of Florida,” she said.
She described constituents facing severe financial stress, including uncertainty about housing and employment, and said lawmakers should be focused on economic relief rather than redistricting or immigration enforcement.
“We have yet to pass a balanced budget, but they instead passed rigged maps,” Nixon said. “Rigged maps to take people’s voices away.”
State budget negotiations in Tallahassee have stretched two months beyond the scheduled end of the legislative session; lawmakers are back in Tallahassee to work toward a final agreement on a spending plan for 2026-27.
No other lawmakers, Democrat or Republican, were seen at Nixon’s sit-in; most had gone home for the weekend after leadership said there’d be no further work on the budget till the following week.
Criticism of spending priorities
Nixon also criticized what she said was $92 million spent on portable toilets tied to the “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention effort. “They spent that money while people, veterans, are living under bridges,” she said. “We should be ashamed. He should be ashamed.”
Her protest unfolded under the watch of law enforcement. A detachment of at least five Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers were stationed nearby, including one standing in the reception area just out of direct view. Despite the presence, Nixon remained seated and continued speaking with reporters.
Earlier, she was overheard telling fellow protesters she would be joining them in Selma, Alabama, for a mass voting rights march on May 16. But Nixon told a reporter she was prepared to stay as long as necessary — even overnight — until she gets a response from the governor.
“I have no problem sitting here until tomorrow morning. I have no problem sitting here until whenever,” she said.
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com and is on X as @CallTallahassee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Angie Nixon’s Capitol sit-in at Gov. DeSantis’ office ends in arrest
Reporting by James Call, Jim Rosica and Alicia Devine, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
