U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ progressive star power brought nearly 2,200 people out to The Cuban Club’s courtyard in Ybor City despite a steady drizzle that slowly soaked the audience.

But it was state Rep. Angie Nixon, the Democrat waging a long-shot bid against Republican incumbent Ashley Moody for U.S. Senate, who made the most noise.

The former union organizer brought a preacher’s charisma to the stage. She was at times lyrical and hopeful, at other times biting and defiant. Nixon spent much of her speaking time unspooling a progressive economic vision — Medicare for All, “living wages” for workers, taxes for the rich and empowered unions — that drew raucous cheers from attendees, many of them under 40.

But Nixon also fought back against labels like “radical” and “extreme” that her Republican opponent and others have used to describe her.

“Now, Ashley Moody thinks these basic and common sense things are extreme, radical, socialist, because it’s easier to call me names than to explain why she keeps voting to make life harder for working people,” Nixon said.

Moody has slammed Nixon’s decision to join the Democratic Socialists of America this year. Nixon has said she doesn’t agree with all of the group’s positions and that she’s trying to build a broad coalition.

The 42-year-old state representative from Jacksonville did not immediately win the endorsement of progressive kingmakers like Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Sanders endorsed Nixon two days after her surprise win against retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, when she was outraised about 16-to-1.

On Saturday, Sanders embraced Nixon and waved to the cameras for the first leg of the duo’s four-stop tour in Florida. He previously stumped for Democratic candidates in Maine and California this cycle. Unlike Sanders’ other stops, Florida is a red state, where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 1.5 million.

Election forecasters have paid little attention to Florida’s U.S. Senate race. Cook Political Report deems the race “solid Republican.” Most general election polls show Moody ahead by as much as 11 points. Nixon did outraise Moody in the most recent fundraising quarter, though the GOP incumbent still has more cash.

By other measures, Nixon appears to have broken through. A Wall Street Journal analysis found that Nixon has the largest share of positive TikTok videos among Democratic politicians. She outranks Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff.

For many attendees on Saturday, Nixon’s rally was the most they’ve ever been involved in politics. Land O’ Lakes resident Mo Islam learned who Nixon was the day of the event. Bellamy Olsen, who drove 45 minutes from her Dade City home, said she was attending her first political rally.

“Bernie is everything,” Olsen said. “I love Bernie. Angie and Bernie together. I believe in both of them.”

But social media popularity and enthusiastic crowds of young people don’t always translate to votes cast. In 2024, U.S. voters between the ages of 18 and 34 were heavily outnumbered by older voters, who lean Republican, according to an analysis from healthcare news outlet KFF.

Speakers urged people in the audience to vote.

People in power “are counting on you to stay home,” Service Employees International Union president April Verrett said. “They are counting on you being too tired, too busy, too damn afraid, too sure your vote doesn’t matter. So let’s prove them wrong.”

Sanders agreed.

“They got the money, we got the people,” he said.

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(Times political editor Michael Van Sickler contributed to this report.)

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