Dem socialist wins Florida Senate primary, but GOP incumbent favorite to keep seat

Democratic socialists netted another primary victory on Tuesday when Florida state representative Angie Nixon defeated former National Security Council aide Alex Vindman to win their party’s nomination for Senate.

Vindman, who played a role in the first impeachment of a U.S. President Donald Trump, outraised Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, $16.3 million to $975,888 through July 29 and was considered the favorite to walk away with the nomination.

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But Nixon, running on a platform of universal health care and a $25 an hour minimum wage, became the latest far-left candidate to win a Democratic primary over a more moderate opponent.

With 99% of votes counted, Nixon had 697,493 (56%) to Vindman’s 548,568 (44%).

Nixon will face Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), who filled the seat that Marco Rubio vacated when he became U.S. secretary of state. The Cook Political Report calls Moody a strong favorite for re-election.

With 98% of votes counted, Moody had 1,313,379 votes (79.6%).

A month after Oct. 7, Nixon introduced a resolution in the Florida legislature calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza.

Earlier this month, she attended a rally in Florida headlined by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), one of Israel’s sharpest critics on Capitol Hill. And during the campaign, she touted the fact that she did not receive support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Vindman, a retired lieutenant colonel and Iraq War veteran, testified before Congress about a 2019 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which a whistleblower said seemed to indicate that the U.S. president conditioned millions of dollars in aid previously approved by Congress to an investigation of Joe Biden and his family.

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