Florida Senate 2026: Moody and Nixon, What You Need to Know Before November 3

The race for the Florida Senate will be decided on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, in a special election to complete the term of Marco Rubio, which ends in January 2029. Competing are Republican Senator Ashley Moody, Democratic state Representative Angie Nixon, and non-party candidate Neil J. Gillespie.

Why it matters

According to the Pew Research Center (September 10, 2026), Hispanics are 22.6% of Florida’s eligible voters, about 3.8 million people. That is, more than one in five eligible voters in the state is Latino. A previous Pew analysis (January 2024, with 2022 data) already ranked Florida as the third state with the most eligible Latino voters, after California and Texas.

Issues such as ICE, migration cooperation agreements in cities like Miami, and TPS for Haitians closely affect many Latin American families in Florida. On these issues, MundoNow found verifiable public positions from Nixon. We did not find verifiable positions from Moody on immigration or TPS, so we did not include any.

Ashley Moody (Republican Party)

Moody has been a senator since January 2025, when Governor Ron DeSantis appointed her after Rubio’s departure to become Secretary of State. Previously, she was Florida’s Attorney General, elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022. This is the first time she is presenting herself to voters as a senator, and the outcome also decides whether she remains in office beyond this term.

Nixon’s campaign criticizes Moody for having voted in favor of cutting health tax credits that, according to Nixon, affect more than 400,000 Floridians, according to the Tampa Bay Times (September 24, 2026). Both that characterization and the figure come from Nixon’s campaign, and MundoNow did not verify them independently.

Angie Nixon (Democratic Party)

Nixon represents Florida’s 13th District (Jacksonville) in the state House. She won the Democratic primary on August 18, 2026, with 56.1% of the vote, against Alex Vindman. These are her verified positions on issues of interest to the Latin American community:

• Immigration and ICE: according to PolitiFact (August 21, 2026), she says she supports secure borders with clear paths to citizenship. Her website calls for abolishing ICE and rebuilding immigration law enforcement.
• 287(g) agreement in Miami: according to WLRN, on August 3, 2026, she asked the Miami Commission to end its cooperation agreement with ICE. She has called mass incarceration and mass deportation «moral failures.»
• TPS for Haitians: according to WUSF, on October 2, 2026, she asked Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody to promote Bill S. 4814, which would restore TPS for Haitians until 2029. The bill is stalled in the Senate.

Neil J. Gillespie (no party)

Gillespie appears on the ballot as a non-party candidate. MundoNow could not confirm his current occupation or his positions on issues of interest to the Latin American community. The NBC 6/Telemundo poll gives him 2%.

What the polls say

These are three recent polls on the race:

• St. Pete Polls (October 5-7, 2026; 836 likely voters; margin of error 3.4 points): Moody 47%, Nixon 45%. The difference is within the margin of error.
• YouGov (September 28 – October 5; 3,813 likely voters): Moody 49%, Nixon 44%.
• NBC 6/Telemundo (Mason-Dixon) (September 28 – October 1; 625 voters; margin of 4.0 points): Moody 50%, Nixon 40%, Gillespie 2%, undecided 8%.

Among Hispanic voters, the results differ: according to Florida Politics, St. Pete Polls measured Nixon with 50% and Moody with 43%, while Mason-Dixon measured Moody with 47% and Nixon with 40%. These are small subsamples, with a larger margin of error than each complete poll.

The average of RealClearPolling, from September 8 to October 7, gives Moody 49.3% and Nixon 42.3%. The polls use different methodologies and samples, and their results are a snapshot of the moment, not a forecast.

Latest: debates

According to WUSF, Moody rejected a debate organized with the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville. Two other debates were offered, one at Florida Atlantic University and another by Spectrum News and Florida State University. Nixon’s campaign said she accepted all three. Moody said she does not want to give Nixon «a platform or attention.» According to CBS Miami, in early October Nixon again pointed out that Moody refuses to debate. As of September 22, no debates were scheduled in the statewide races, and the sources consulted do not record an agreed-upon debate between the candidates.

What you can do

• Registration: the deadline to register for the general election expired on Monday, October 5, 2026. If you are already registered, you can verify your information at your county’s election office.
• Vote by mail: in Pinellas County, the deadline to request a ballot is Thursday, October 22, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Check the deadline in your county. Ballots must arrive at the election office before 7:00 p.m. on November 3 and cannot be delivered to a polling place on that day.
• Early voting: it is mandatory throughout the state from October 24 to 31, 2026, and counties can add days. In Palm Beach and Pinellas, it is from October 19 to November 1. In Palm Beach, the hours are from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Election Day: the polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., local time in each zone. The Panhandle votes in Central Time, so Florida does not close completely until 8:00 p.m. ET.
• Get informed: consult the sources of this note and confirm days and hours with your county’s election office.

Sources: Tampa Bay Times; PolitiFact; WLRN; WUSF (TPS); WUSF (debates); WUSF (key dates); CBS Miami; RealClearPolling; Florida Politics (St. Pete Polls); NBC 6 / Telemundo; WPTV; Pinellas Election Supervisor; Palm Beach Election Supervisor; Pew Research Center; Pew Research Center (2024); Sparker’s Soapbox