Florida Democrats just handed Republicans a November gift.
State Rep. Angie Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, pulled off a stunning upset Tuesday, crushing former Trump impeachment witness Alex Vindman for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination — despite being outspent by more than 16-to-1.
Vindman raised roughly $16.3 million. Nixon raised about $975,000.
She beat him anyway.
Now Nixon heads into a much tougher fight against Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in a state where Democrats haven’t won a U.S. Senate election since 2012.
The victory marks a historic breakthrough for the socialist left — and another identity crisis for a Democratic Party already struggling to find a winning formula in Florida.
Nixon has embraced an unapologetically progressive agenda, including Medicare for All, a $25 federal minimum wage, rent freezes and ending U.S. aid to Israel. She also introduced a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
Republicans wasted no time signaling what’s coming.
President Trump celebrated Vindman’s spectacular collapse on Truth Social:
“SleazeBag Vindman loses tonight to a Radical Left Lunatic. How cool is that???”
“A lot of great WINS tonight!!!”
For Trump, it was a chance to take another swing at the man whose testimony helped ignite his first impeachment.
For Republicans, Nixon’s nomination offers something potentially more valuable: a chance to make Florida’s Senate election a statewide referendum on democratic socialism.
Vindman nevertheless quickly fell in line, congratulating Nixon and promising to support her against Moody.
But the bigger question for Democrats won’t disappear so easily.
Nixon proved Tuesday that the party’s socialist wing can beat an establishment candidate with national recognition and a massive financial advantage.
Whether that same politics can win statewide in increasingly Republican Florida is about to be tested.
And Ashley Moody may have just become one of the happiest Republicans in America.
