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.
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Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, is doing a sit in at Gov. Ron DeSantis office in protest of the state’s new U.S. House map that creates more GOP-leaning districts.
— Douglas Soule (@DouglasSoule) May 15, 2026
Nixon was given a warning but is refusing to leave.
The press got escorted out, so we can’t see what’s… pic.twitter.com/iUJjrQIW2k
“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.