Vice President JD Vance told a rally in Lakeland, Florida, on Oct. 1 that if Florida Senate nominee Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, the response should be that she does not belong in America. California Rep. Ro Khanna then posted that Vance was telling a Black woman who is a descendant of enslaved people to leave the country, writing that he did not believe Vance would “go this low.” Online users reacted after the post, with many replies saying the remarks were about Nixon’s stated views and that Khanna had left out that context.
The clip at the center of the exchange was posted on X by @atrupar, who captioned it, “JD Vance on Angie Nixon: ‘Get the hell out of here. You don’t belong in America.’” California Rep. Ro Khanna quoted that post and wrote that Vance was “telling a Black woman who is a descendant of enslaved people to leave America,” adding, “Even I didn’t believe you would go this low.”
In the clip, Vance is at a podium in Lakeland, Florida, at a rally for Florida Republican candidates, with a crowd behind him. He says, “When Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, I think the right response is to say, ‘ Then get the hell out of here. You don’t belong in America.” The crowd cheers. The short clip does not show what he said before that line or how the rally ended.
Florida Politics, reporting on the same Lakeland rally, quoted a longer version: “You don’t belong in America, if those are your beliefs.” The outlet also reported that Vance called Nixon a “self-professed socialist who somehow owns two homes” before urging her to leave.
Nixon, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Florida, responded in a written statement that this is her home, that Vance came to her state to tell her to get out, and that “I’m not going any damn place.”
The Replies Split on What Vance Actually Said
Some said Khanna had left out the point of the remark. Richard Grenell wrote that “the Victim Culture you always push is un-American and it should get the hell out of here, too.”
Another user said, “Vance is talking about her politics. Why TF are you bringing her race into the argument? You’re the racist one.”
A third wrote, “We can all hear it on the clip that he’s talking about her socialist platform.”
Others sided with Khanna’s reading. One reply said, “I believed he would go this low — and he will go lower before too long.”
On the original clip, Martina Navratilova wrote, “Angie belongs here as much as you do.”
Nixon’s own statement, reported by the Florida Phoenix, made a similar point: Vance had told her to get out “while they enjoyed the comfort of buildings my ancestors helped build,” and she was not leaving.
The exchange now sits alongside the Florida Senate race, with Nixon’s statement and the replies under Khanna’s post still circulating. Whether voters treat Vance’s line as a comment on her views or as something else is a question the campaign, not the clip, will have to answer.
