5:30 p.m. update
At around 5:10 p.m., what appeared to be a plain-clothed Capitol Police Officer walked into the lobby of the governors office and informed everyone they had to leave the reception area.
Angie Nixon asked if she had to leave, mentioning she was a state lawmaker. She was told that she could stand out in the hallway, but that she couldn’t stand behind the doors of the Governor’s office.
“This is your one warning you will get right now,” the man said. “This includes press. These press passes do not get you into the Capitol when it’s closed.”
Nixon declined to move.
About three minutes later, a group of uniformed and plain-clothed officers and FDLE agents again informed everyone, the public and press included, that they now had to leave the building.
A group of women that had accompanied Nixon left, but again Nixon remained, standing and leaning against the counter of the governor’s reception area.
At 5:25 p.m., the governor’s Chief of Staff Jason Weida posted a reporter’s video of Nixon and wrote “reprimanded and now arrested.”
ORIGINAL STORY
Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat and candidate for the U.S. Senate, planted herself in the governor’s office Friday afternoon, vowing not to leave until Gov. Ron DeSantis meets with her and calls a special legislative session to redraw Florida’s congressional map.
Nixon began the one-person sit-in around 1 p.m. in the reception area outside DeSantis’ Capitol office 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, but 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.
Protest tied to affordability and representation
Nixon cast the protest as more than a dispute over redistricting — arguing that 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 calls an illegal partisan gerrymander while ignoring rising costs of living, failing to pass a budget on time and spending millions in taxpayer dollars on DeSantis’ questionable priorities.
The sit-in escalates Nixon’s clash with state leaders over congressional district lines. It came one day after the House Rules and Ethics Committee reprimanded her for using a toy bullhorn during an April 29 protest that disrupted a floor vote on districts drawn by DeSantis.
Speaking from the governor’s office reception area, Nixon 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.”
Budget negotiations in Tallahassee have stretched two months beyond the scheduled end of the legislative session, as lawmakers work toward a final agreement.
Criticism of spending priorities
Nixon also criticized state spending, pointing to 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.
She said Capitol police indicated she could be trespassed but had not attempted to remove her.
“They said that I was going to get trespassed. I’m still here,” Nixon said. “So they must be going to lock me up in here.”
Willing to stay indefinitely
While earlier she was overheard telling fellow protesters she would be joining them in Selma, Alabama, for a mass voting rights march on May 16, Nixon told the Tallahassee Democrat she is 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.
Her demand remains unchanged: a meeting with DeSantis and a call for a special session to redraw the congressional map “the right way.”
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: Rep. Angie Nixon stages Capitol sit-in at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office
Reporting by James Call, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
