Moody and Nixon take Florida Senate campaigns statewide as Hope Florida dispute resurfaces

Ashley Moody speaks at a podium with Florida and United States flags behind her during her 2025 Senate appointment announcement. — Source: WPTV / Scripps News

Summary

Ashley Moody and Angie Nixon campaigned in different parts of Florida on October 26 ahead of the November 3 U.S. Senate election.
Moody highlighted property-tax relief, while Nixon met small-business owners and organized voter outreach in Riviera Beach.
PolitiFact found Nixon's allegation that Moody stole Medicaid money unsubstantiated; an October 7 appellate ruling ordered a grand-jury report expunged.

Candidates make final-week stops

Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody and Democratic challenger Angie Nixon spread out across Florida on Monday, October 26, in the final week of their campaign for the Senate seat Moody has held by appointment. Moody appeared with gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds in the Panhandle and at a roundtable with Gov. Ron DeSantis, while Nixon organized a voter outreach event with small-business owners in Riviera Beach, according to Spectrum News. Florida voters are scheduled to cast their general-election ballots on November 3.^{[1] [5]}

Moody argued at the roundtable that property-tax relief could ease household expenses. Nixon's campaign said its Riviera Beach stop combined phone banking and voter engagement with an opportunity to hear from residents and business owners. The two appearances were separate campaign events, and neither report established a new agreement or a change in either candidate's platform. Local station WKMG also reported recent Central Florida stops by both candidates and found the cost of living prominent among voters it interviewed.^{[1] [5]}

A disputed settlement follows the race

The campaign activity came as PolitiFact published an October 26 examination of Nixon's renewed allegation about the Hope Florida Foundation, a nonprofit that received $10 million in connection with Florida's 2024 settlement with Medicaid contractor Centene. Nixon has accused Moody of stealing money meant for sick children. PolitiFact found that characterization unsubstantiated, said no one involved faces criminal charges, and concluded that available documents do not establish the extent of Moody's personal involvement. Moody's campaign pointed PolitiFact to an appellate ruling and rejected the insinuations as political.^{[2] [3]}

A Florida appeals court's October 7 opinion described a roughly $67 million settlement, of which about $57 million went to the state and $10 million went directly from Centene to Hope Florida. The foundation later approved two $5 million grants to advocacy nonprofits, which subsequently contributed to a political committee opposing a recreational-marijuana ballot measure. The court ordered a grand-jury presentment expunged in full, ruling that its declaration of misappropriation lacked support under the statutes it invoked and that it had censured people without indicting them. The ruling did not resolve every political argument about the arrangement, but it is central to assessing claims of criminal wrongdoing.^{[3] [2]}

The seat and the next vote

Moody entered the Senate on January 21, 2025, after Marco Rubio resigned to become secretary of state, according to the Senate's official roster. The November vote will determine who serves the remainder of that seat's term. Spectrum News reported that DeSantis and President Donald Trump have supported Moody's bid, while former President Barack Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders have backed Nixon. Those endorsements do not establish the outcome; voters will decide the contest on November 3.^{[4] [1] [5]}

As the candidates make their final stops, their immediate challenge is turning attention into ballots. Moody is emphasizing her record and tax relief, while Nixon is organizing around household costs and local businesses, according to the two local news reports. The Hope Florida disagreement is likely to remain part of the campaign, but the available record supports describing it as a disputed settlement and campaign allegation, not a finding that Moody committed a crime.^{[1] [5] [2] [3]}

Reporting sources

This article follows our editorial standards. To report an error, see our corrections policy.