Disney World workers packed a town hall in Orlando this week to vent about pay that doesn't stretch far enough, health coverage they can't afford, and an immigration crackdown that has some of their coworkers scared. More than 100 people showed up to hear from Angie Nixon, the Florida Democrat challenging U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, as she tries to close a gap in the polls with less than two weeks before Election Day.
Nixon returned to Orlando on Tuesday for the event, according to Orlando Weekly, which reported the crowd topped 100 people. “So we can put pressure on the folks in Washington [D.C.] to do the right thing,” Nixon told the group, framing the town hall as part of a broader push to organize workers ahead of the vote. The event was organized by the Transport Workers Union, an affiliate of the Machinists union, per the same report.
Workers in the room described a familiar squeeze: wages that technically went up but still don't cover the basics. Diego Henry Jr., a 12-year Disney employee who works in parks attractions, said he earns slightly more than $21 an hour. “I get paid $21 and change, but that's not even a living wage right now,” he said, adding that Disney does not seem to hear workers, the outlet reported.
A 23-Year Server Facing Surgery Without Health Benefits
The most striking account came from Quinn Gorski, a 23-year Disney employee who waits tables at 50's Prime Time Café in Hollywood Studios. Gorski is a part-time server without health benefits of her own, though she has coverage through her husband's plan, and she is currently undergoing treatment for kidney cancer. She told the crowd that friends started an online fundraiser to help with her bills and copays, and that she has another surgery scheduled for Nov. 10.
Gorski said her part-time status stems from Disney not opening full-time tipped positions, overstaffing locations, and outsourcing to third-party restaurants. She also said some Disney cast members live in cars, cannot afford medical care, and have hungry children — a grim picture from inside a company that employs tens of thousands across its Orlando resort.
Edner Alouidor, a 14-year custodian at Disney's EPCOT and a Unite Here Local 737 union member originally from Haiti, also spoke. Alouidor canvasses for candidates endorsed by his union, including Nixon, and his presence underscored how immigration policy is weighing on the Disney workforce. Workers at the town hall raised concerns about the cost of living, unaffordable health care, grocery costs, and the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, Orlando Weekly reported.
Immigration Fears Loom Over Florida's Workforce
Florida has the third-highest population of undocumented immigrants in the United States and the largest population of immigrants permitted to live temporarily and legally under Temporary Protected Status, according to the same report. The Trump administration is pursuing revocation of TPS for Venezuela, Haiti and Syria, the outlet noted — though separate USCIS material describes the Syria TPS designation as already terminated effective July 27, 2026, a discrepancy the dossier does not resolve. Nixon has vowed to support efforts to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if she is elected.
Nixon is campaigning on a $25 minimum wage, universal health care through Medicare for All, removing corporate super PACs from politics, and stronger worker protections. She also supports the proposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would penalize employers that violate workers' organizing rights, streamline justice for unlawfully fired or disciplined workers, and ease access to fair union contracts. That bill passed the U.S. House in 2021 but failed to pass the Senate.
Disney's Union Contract and the Coalition Behind It
The workers at the town hall are covered by a coalition of six labor unions that, per Orlando Weekly's report on the event, collectively represent roughly 45,000 Disney World employees in Orlando — cooks, servers, parking attendants, bus drivers, housekeepers and costumed characters among them. An earlier Orlando Weekly report on the 2023 contract vote put the coalition's size at about 42,000 workers, a discrepancy the available reporting does not reconcile.
The Service Trades Council Union represents Disney workers and last negotiated a five-year contract with Walt Disney World in 2023. That 323-page contract, set to expire at the end of 2027, sets minimum pay for covered employees at $20 an hour as of this month. The 2023 deal itself raised Disney's minimum wage from $15 to $18 by the end of that year, and of the 12,650 workers who voted, 97% approved it.
Nixon, a Florida House representative since 2020, former union organizer, mother of five and business owner, is seeking to unseat Moody, a Republican appointed to the Senate last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the vacancy left by Marco Rubio. Moody previously served as Florida attorney general and faced scrutiny over her role in the alleged misappropriation of $10 million in taxpayer funds later diverted by the Hope Foundation to serve DeSantis's political agenda, according to the dossier's sourcing. Nixon has said her opponent would not debate her or answer questions on television.
A Tight Race With Big Headwinds
The contest remains an uphill climb for Nixon. Republicans hold a Florida voter-registration advantage of more than 1.5 million over registered Democrats, and political analysts at the Cook Political Report and the Center for Politics have viewed the seat as safely Republican, according to Florida Today.
Still, the numbers have moved. A University of North Florida poll released this week found Moody leading Nixon 49% to 45%, a four-point margin with 5% of voters undecided, as reported by Fox 35 Orlando. That's down from an eight-point Moody lead in the same pollster's July survey, and among independents, Nixon led Moody by 15 points. Researchers said turnout and undecided voters could play a key role ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
The town hall capped a busy stretch for Nixon's campaign. She held three campaign events in the Orlando area the same day, appearing with U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna at events at UCF and a French café in Winter Garden. She was also joined at the Disney town hall by former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who in 2012 beat Republican Connie Mack IV in Brevard County's statewide election by 50.88% to 45.55%. The weekend before, Nixon rallied with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a pro-labor independent from Vermont who held rallies in Tampa, Melbourne and Gainesville and addressed a crowd of 2,000 at Ybor City's Cuban Club, plus a crowd of thousands alongside Nixon in Brevard County. At the Disney town hall, Nixon told the crowd that organized people power can defeat big money.
