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Get the latest coverage of the 2026 Florida legislative session in Tallahassee from Your Florida, our coverage partners, and WUSF.

Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon arrested after sit-in at DeSantis' office

Glack woman in a pink dress and wearing pearls speaks into a pink megaphone
Mike Stewart
/
AP
State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Fla., speaks loudly on the House floor as the House voted on HB1D, a redistricting bill, during a special session of the Florida Legislature, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Tallahassee.

She was also reprimanded a day earlier for her loud protest on the House floor last month that disrupted the vote on new congressional district maps.

Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, was arrested Friday evening by Capitol Police after about five hours of staging a sit-in outside Gov. Ron DeSantis' office.

She began her protest around noon, hoping to speak with a DeSantis staff member to discuss affordability in Florida. Nixon said two protesters who were with her at the time were arrested. At the time of her arrest, five supporters and a group of media members were told to leave the Capitol.

"I'm here because we have continually failed to do the business of the people in this legislative body, in this governor's office," she told the News Service of Florida before her arrest. "I'm here because they, instead of addressing the rising costs and the fact that people can no longer to afford to be alive, to stay in Florida ... they instead want to rid maps in support of what Donald Trump wants."

At the time of her arrest it was unclear what charges she would face or where should would be taken.

Nixon is running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

On Thursday Nixon was reprimanded by the House Rules and Ethics Committee for her loud protest on the House floor last month that disrupted the vote on new congressional district maps.

The incident wasn’t the first time Nixon caused a commotion on the House floor over redistricting. She led a protest in 2022 when the old districts were approved. The House briefly recessed but returned one hour later to approve the map.

"It doesn't have to be this way, and so that is why I'm here," Nixon said.

A request for comment from the governor's office was not immediately returned Friday afternoon.

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