WASHINGTON — The Democratic Socialists of America notched a major breakthrough in Florida on Tuesday night, as state Rep. Angie Nixon defeated former National Security Council official Alexander Vindman, a prominent witness in Donald Trump’s first impeachment, in the state’s special Democratic Senate primary.
But party strategists on both sides of the aisle are already warning that Nixon and the DSA could face a far tougher political reality in November against Republican incumbent Ashley Moody.
“Florida was already a stretch,” longtime Democratic strategist Adam Bozzi told The Post on Wednesday. “This makes it even more difficult, and [Nixon] is unlikely to get the national resources needed to win. That money will likely be directed to other states.”
Bozzi said Democrats still have reasons for optimism elsewhere on the Senate map, pointing to what he described as strong recruitment in competitive races. “The good news for Democrats,” he added, “is that they’ve done an excellent job recruiting strong candidates who have won primaries in many other races like Texas [James Talarico], Ohio [Sherrod Brown], Alaska [Mary Peltola], and Iowa [Josh Turek], giving them a solid chance to win the Senate majority.”
The post-primary recalibration came quickly. A day after Nixon’s victory, election forecaster Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics moved the Florida Senate contest from “likely R” to “safe R,” signaling an even stronger advantage for Republicans.
Nixon’s path may also be complicated by the DSA’s own messaging. Last week, the organization marked what would have been the 100th birthday of Fidel Castro, the Cuban Communist dictator whose legacy remains deeply divisive in Florida politics.
That history carries particular weight in the Sunshine State, home to roughly 1.6 million people of Cuban origin, including many who fled Castro’s rule or are descendants of those who did.
Still, Nixon’s win was a landmark moment for the DSA: she became the group’s first member to secure a U.S. Senate nomination or any statewide nomination, an upset made even more striking by the fundraising gap that separated her campaign from Vindman’s.
The state lawmaker raised a paltry $975,000 to Vindman’s $16.3 million war chest. Nixon scored endorsements from “Squad” Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — but bigger left-wing names like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) stayed out of the race.
Nixon’s success was seen as so unlikely that a potential race with Moody was barely polled. The most recent survey, taken by the University of North Florida last month, showed Moody with 50% support among likely voters compared to 42% for Nixon — making her a clear favorite fewer than three months before Election Day.
Some Republicans were almost as thrilled as the DSA themselves with Nixon’s win.
“The most gratifying loss last night was that of a real treasonous creep, Alexander Vindman, to a Radical Left Lunatic, who can’t speak or think properly, and who will go down to certain defeat at the hands of Ashley Moody, a truly Fantastic Senator,” President Trump gloated on Truth Social.
“I was stunned by that,” Ryan Elijah, the Republican nominee in Florida’s 7th Congressional District, told The Post Wednesday of Nixon’s victory. “I think that is a problem right now in the Democratic Party. They have people that are moving to that socialist side.”
“For Republicans, we just have to stay focused on what we’re doing. You know, if they’re going to continue to move to that socialist side, our ideas are going to sound a lot better to the American people,” he added. “If they keep running to that socialist side, it’s going to get a lot easier.”
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesperson Bernadette Breslin argued that Tuesday’s result was “the latest sign that Chuck Schumer has surrendered his party to radical socialists like Nixon, Abdul El-Sayed [of Michigan], and Troy Jackson [of Maine].”
“Now, Schumer and Democratic pollsters alike have lost faith in Florida.”
