|

At a campaign rally in Florida on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance discussed his desire to remove individuals from the United States based on their political views, saying that socialists “don’t belong in America.”

Vance was discussing Angie Nixon, the Democratic Party’s candidate for U.S. senator in Florida. Nixon is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a progressive political party that supports popular socialist ideals (including universal health care and reforms to government) being implemented through the democratic process.

Vance described Nixon, and anyone espousing her views, as un-American, suggesting they should leave the country rather than promote their political vision.

“When Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, I think the right response is, ‘Get the hell out of here,'” Vance said during the rally. “You don’t belong in America, if those are your views.”

Nixon responded to Vance’s rhetoric by citing unflattering memes about the vice president, and noting that her opponent, Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Florida), wasn’t even in attendance at the rally.

“I don’t wanna COUCH my words here: I know JD Vance, his eyeliner, and absent Ashley Moody, are used to running away from people when things get tough, because they care more about themselves and their billionaire buddies than the people they represent,” Nixon wrote on social media. “But this is my home.”

Notably, support for socialism in the U.S. is polling at its highest levels ever seen. According to a recent Gallup poll, 43 percent of Americans have a positive view of socialism, surpassing the 40 percent line for the first time since the polling organization started asking the question.

Nixon herself is polling well within the state. According to a recent Change Research survey, she is in a statistical tie with Moody, with Nixon garnering 47 percent of support among Florida voters and her Republican opponent receiving 48 percent support.

Notably, some Democrats have also been critical of democratic socialism, even going so far as to vote in favor of a measure in the U.S. House of Representatives condemning the ideology that Republicans have sought to make a political boogeyman this past year.

“It’s telling that some in our own party, alongside Republicans who have made their disdain for working people clear, would rather red-bait us than fight the corporate money corrupting our elections and making life unbearable for the people they claim to represent,” said Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist running for Congress to represent a district in New York City, reacting to that bill’s passage in September.

“We don’t need a tent that shrinks from its own history. We need a unified party that takes on corporate power, gets money out of politics, and delivers for working people,” Chevalier added.