President Donald Trump celebrated the primary defeat of longtime political foe Alexander Vindman on Tuesday night after Democratic Florida State Rep. Angie Nixon pulled off a stunning upset in the primary that sought to flip the seat held by Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla.
This will be the first general election race for Moody, outgoing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handpicked successor for former senator and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and it will be an ideological battle between a leading legal mind and one of the Democratic Socialists of America’s up-and-coming figures in Nixon.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night’s high-profile Florida Senate primary:
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The Obama-Biden establishment Democrat era sees another one of its national political figures suffer a loss in Florida, a state that once was former President Barack Obama’s key swing state.
“SleazeBag Vindman loses tonight to a Radical Left Lunatic,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Tuesday night. “How cool is that???”
Vindman, a retired Army Lt. Col. who fled Soviet Ukraine as a child with his twin brother Eugene, rose to prominence as a Russia hawk during the final years of the Obama administration’s Pentagon.
Vindman testified during the first Trump impeachment trial that he “was asked to serve” on the National Security Council in July 2018, serving under fellow impeachment witness Fiona Hill. He became a polarizing national political figure when he testified during the 2019 House impeachment inquiry about Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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Vindman, backed by the Democrat establishment, raised 16 times as much money as Nixon, but like the big-ticket loss in the Michigan Democratic primary race won by Abdul El-Sayed against Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., it proved to be money wasted before November’s midterm general elections.
That comes as Democrats have widely reported issues with fundraising right now. They trail Republicans’ national apparatus and Trump’s MAGA coffers by hundreds of millions, showing the power of incumbency, despite the long historical challenges of midterm elections swinging power back to the opposition party.
Vindman raised $16.27 million to roughly $1 million for the DSA-backed Nixon, according to federal filings. Despite the nearly 16-to-1 cash advantage, Vindman lost in roughly a 12-point blowout.
That comes on the heels of the estimated $70 million spent on Stevens.
Democrats, whose small-donor platform ActBlue is under congressional investigation, could use those millions against the RNC’s reported $128.5 million June cash on hand and Trump’s reported $800 million.
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“Florida proved there’s no excuse for elections to drag on for days or weeks,” Republican National Committee (RNC) spokeswoman Ally Triolo wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Floridians voted, ballots were counted, and we woke up knowing who won. It can be done — and it should be the standard nationwide.”
Defeated California independent mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt marveled in a trolling X post on election integrity.
“Wait. How did Florida count all their votes already?” Pratt wrote. “I was reliably informed democracy takes 5 weeks.”
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RNC Chair Joe Gruters, who resides in southwest Florida, called that quick result shot to Fox News Digital weeks ago, repeating a long-hailed refrain by Gov. DeSantis.
“I always say, go look at Florida, my home state, state of 23 million people, a state where literally within 90 minutes, we can give you results everybody has full faith and confidence – that’s with Democrat and Republican supervisor of elections across the state,” Gruters said.
“We could do this nationwide. It’s not rocket science, but when you have a party that does everything they possibly can to cheat, lie, and steal to win elections, when it’s all about control and power, rather than trying to make sure we protect democracy, we got to do everything we can to put the ship in the right direction, and that’s what we’ve done at the party. We’re going to continue to do anything we can make sure these elections are safe and secure.”
Florida won redistricting, but Nixon won Democratic voter cred
Nixon sparked national headlines during Florida’s legislative redistricting battle when she pulled out a bright pink megaphone on the House floor to protest a GOP-drafted congressional map.
Undeterred by a state reprimand, Nixon stood by her actions, famously stating that “fighting for democracy is more important than having decorum” and declaring that she had no regrets about speaking out. That viral floor protest helped define Nixon’s political identity as a confrontational progressive willing to break norms, serving as a signature centerpiece for her high-profile U.S. Senate campaign.
In the primary, the newly redrawn maps shifted competitive dynamics across the state, while Nixon’s stand against redistricting became her primary rallying cry against the well-backed establishment.
In her campaign, Nixon urged voters to “make sure you wear your pink to the polls.”
Moody’s law-and-order résumé gives Nixon a steep credibility test
Moody, who served six years as Florida’s attorney general before DeSantis appointed her to fill the seat vacated by Rubio, enters the general election with a résumé built around the issues Republicans are likely to put front and center: crime, fraud and public safety.
By contrast, Nixon comes to the race from activism on the pavement, not the courtroom. The Jacksonville Democrat built her profile as a progressive organizer and state lawmaker, championing government-run healthcare, expanded social programs and other priorities aligned with DSA.
The Florida Senate seat will be a target for the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee, but it will have to invest its resources of time, energy and money into a DSA candidate opposing a tough on crime fraud-fighter.
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