DSA breaks through with Angie Nixon’s Florida Senate primary upset, but Republicans expected to roll in November

See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Post on Google.

Key points

• The state lawmaker raised a paltry $975, 000 to Vindman's $16.3 million war chest.
• "I was stunned by that, " Ryan Elijah, the Republican nominee in Florida's 7th Congressional District, informed The Post Wednesday of Nixon's victory.
• WASHINGTON – The Democratic Socialists of America scored one of their biggest wins ever in Florida's special Democratic Senate primary Tuesday evening when state Rep.
• "Florida was already a stretch, " veteran Democratic strategist Adam Bozzi informed The Post Wednesday.
• The DSA itself didn't create Nixon's job any easier when it commemorated what would have been the 100th birthday of Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro last week.

WASHINGTON – The Democratic Socialists of America scored one of their biggest wins ever in Florida's special Democratic Senate primary Tuesday evening when state Rep. Angie Nixon upset former National Security Council official and Trump impeachment witness Alexander Vindman.

Nevertheless, operatives from both parties are expecting Nixon and the DSA to secure a rude awakening from Republican incumbent Ashley Moody in November.

"Florida was already a stretch, " veteran Democratic strategist Adam Bozzi informed The Post Wednesday. "This makes it even more tough, and is unlikely to secure the national resources needed to win. That funds will probable be directed to other states."

"The good news for Democrats, " Bozzi continued, "is that they've done an excellent job recruiting strong candidates who have won primaries in many other races like Texas, Ohio, Alaska, and Iowa, giving them a solid chance to win the Senate majority."

When election handicapper Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics shifted his rating of the Florida race to "safe R" from "likely R.", the expectations-resetting began the day after Nixon's win.

Notably, the DSA itself didn't create Nixon's job any easier when it commemorated what would have been the 100th birthday of Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro last week.

Approximately 1.6 million individuals of Cuban origin live in Florida, numerous of whom fled the Castro regime or have family members who did so.

Meanwhile, the scale of Nixon's achievement in becoming the first DSA member to win a Senate nomination or a nod for any statewide office can be summed up in the fundraising gap between her and Vindman.

For context, 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, indicated Moody with 50% backing among probable 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, informed The Post Wednesday of Nixon's victory. "I think that is a difficulty right now in the Democratic Party. They have individuals 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 individuals, " he went on. "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, and Troy Jackson." "Now, Schumer and Democratic pollsters alike have lost faith in Florida."

In short, DSA breaks through with Angie Nixon's Florida Senate primary upset, but Republicans is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.