Watchdog seeks probe into Florida Senate candidate Nixon's nonprofit finances

A conservative government watchdog has filed a complaint against Florida U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon. The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), in a complaint filed on Monday, alleges that Nixon may have used her now-defunct nonprofit, the Moxie Group Inc., to benefit herself and may have violated a number of Florida and federal laws.

Nixon is a Florida state legislator and a candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). She is waging an uphill race to unseat Republican Senator Ashley Moody.

Nixon's campaign disputes the characterizations in the complaint. It notes that Nixon's involvement with the nonprofit ended in December 2025, when she resigned as its principal manager.

The Moxie Group was initially intended to receive federal tax-exempt contributions for a community project named Café Resistance, a community-oriented bookstore and coffee shop in Jacksonville.

The NLPC has asked the Federal Election Commission, the IRS, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Florida attorney general to investigate the Moxie Group along four lines: unaccounted-for charitable expenses, overlap between the nonprofit and a for-profit business, whether it solicited donations even after the group was disbanded, and whether Nixon's use of her business space for campaign purposes violates federal campaign restrictions.

The first line of inquiry concerns the money trail. According to the Moxie Group's 2024 reporting, it spent $210,000 under an 'other' designation, leaving most of its spending unaccounted for.

In its complaint, the NLPC wrote that while Nixon itemised some of the charity's expenses, a 'whopping' $210,000 was simply listed as 'other' with no description or itemisation of what the funds were spent on, even though the form requires the charity to list items for such expenses. 'What happened to all that money?' the group asked.

Parts of the $210,000 figure have broad descriptions but lack itemisation in the 2024 reporting. Two payments under the 'other' designation include one of $42,560 and another disbursement of $68,304, both under 'program services'. A third item, of $3,437, is categorised under 'management & general'. Outside the 'other' category, listed expenses include equipment rentals, insurance, advertising, information technology and fees for non-employees.

The second concern is the overlap between Nixon's nonprofit and her business. The complaint notes that after founding her nonprofit in 2019, Nixon transferred its registration licence to her personal for-profit company by the same name — DBA Café Resistance Bookstore and Coffee Shop.

Third, the NLPC questioned whether Nixon raised donations for her nonprofit even after its board of directors voted to disband the group on 15 December 2025. The group wrote that it waited over nine months to file Articles of Dissolution with the Florida Secretary of State, on 1 October 2026.

The complaint says the Moxie Group did not take down its fundraising site, which promised contributors a tax receipt for making a donation. Screenshots of the now-archived website are included in the complaint.

No specific contributions are known to have been received by the Moxie Group during that period. Nixon's campaign noted that because she stepped down as the nonprofit's manager in December 2025 — ahead of the board's disbandment vote on 15 December — she would not have been involved in any decisions about the group's articles of dissolution or donations received after her resignation.

The final area of concern involves campaign finance. The NLPC contends that Café Resistance has been functioning as the candidate's de facto campaign headquarters or a branch of it, stating that the café is hosting a phone bank operation on its premises. According to Nixon's campaign website, the coffee shop is listed as the location for a 'Ten toes down Tuesday phonebank' event scheduled for Tuesday, 27 October.

Nixon's campaign said it has not made payments to Café Resistance and has used only the group's parking lot. The campaign also noted that Nixon does not own the building.

The NLPC further contended that if any contributions made to the nonprofit had ended up paying the rent and expenses of the for-profit Café Resistance, which in turn was used for Nixon's political campaign, that would be a clear violation of 501(c)(3) rules, which prohibit charities from using their funds for political campaigns.