Progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon scored a major upset over former National Security Council aide Alex Vindman in the Florida Democratic Senate primary, NBC News projects, setting up a general election race against Republican Sen. Ashley Moody.
Vindman, a retired lieutenant colonel and Iraq War veteran who rose to prominence as a witness during President Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment hearings, was viewed as a heavy favorite against Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, heading into Tuesday’s contest.
Vindman raised more than $16 million for his campaign, a significant number for a Democrat in red-leaning Florida, while Nixon brought in less than $1 million.
“We showed the world what organized people can accomplish,” Nixon told supporters Tuesday night. “And we showed the world what people of Florida are all about. Medicare for all. Universal child care. Real, affordable housing. Fully funded public education. And an end to senseless wars.”
Vindman was recruited to run for the seat by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in an effort to expand its map during a midterm election cycle that is expected to be favorable for the party.
In a statement, Vindman said Nixon “ran a strong campaign.”
“I will be standing by her side in the fight against Ashley Moody,” he continued. “I hope you’ll join me.”
During her victory speech, Nixon addressed Vindman’s supporters, saying “there is a place for you” in her campaign.
“The great thing about our movement is we are not trying to force everyone to agree with us and believe exactly the same thing,” she said.
The DSCC also released a statement supportive of Nixon after her victory.
“Angie Nixon has dedicated her career to fighting for Florida. A lifelong native of Jacksonville and a former union organizer, Angie’s dedication to put working families first runs deep — and now, she’s running to take that fight to the Senate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and DSCC Chair Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said in a joint statement. “Ashley Moody’s votes have cost Florida, from her siding with private insurance companies over Floridians to ripping away health care. In November, Florida will have a clear choice at the ballot.”
Moody easily fended off several challengers to win her Republican primary Tuesday, NBC News projects. In her victory speech Tuesday night, Moody called accused Nixon of wanting to “destroy this country and everything that it is built on.”
“We are staring down crazy and the socialists today,” Moody said.
The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee took a similar swipe at Nixon.
“Florida will never elect a socialist to the US Senate and we look forward to Ashley Moody’s victory in November,” spokesman Nick Puglia said.
Nixon regularly criticized Vindman for only recently having moved to Florida and said her campaign was an attempt to prove that insurgent progressive politics has a place in Florida politics.
“Florida: the choice is OURS,” Nixon posted on social media as part of her closing message. “We will decide our future, not billionaire donors or the establishment politics of DC.”
Nixon is an advocate for cutting U.S. aid to Israel, a controversial position in a state with the country’s third-largest Jewish population. Her stance put her at odds with members of her own party at times and was in contrast to Vindman, a Jewish immigrant born in Soviet Ukraine.
Nixon introduced a resolution in the state House calling for a “de-escalation and ceasefire in the state of Israel and occupied Palestine.” She also said she would have supported a congressional resolution in July that would have stripped $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel.
“I would have voted in support of that, because we cannot continue to send money to countries that are violating international law, that are violating human rights, that are actively destroying,” she said Friday on WMNF radio of Tampa. “Throughout my adult career, I have fought for the safety and the well-being and the humanity of all people. And me stating this does not make me antisemitic at all.”
Vindman drew national attention when, as an aide to the National Security Council, he gave congressional testimony about a 2019 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Trump was pushing for an investigation into Joe Biden, who at the time was a Democratic candidate for president.
The testimony helped launch Trump’s first impeachment by the House. Trump was ultimately acquitted by the Senate, and Vindman was later fired from the NSC.
Vindman had largely ignored Nixon during the primary — the two never met for a debate — and tried to focus on Moody.
Moody and Nixon are vying to serve the final two years of the term Secretary of State Marco Rubio won in 2022. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Moody to the seat last year after Trump selected Rubio for his Cabinet.
