In upset, Florida democratic socialist Nixon wins Democratic Senate primary
In upset, Florida democratic socialist Nixon wins Democratic Senate primary
By Richard Cowan Wed, August 19, 2026 at 6:08 AM UTC
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By Richard Cowan
Aug 19 (Reuters) - Democratic socialist Angie Nixon scored an upset victory on Tuesday in Florida's Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate, as voters in several states picked candidates for elections that will determine control of Congress.
In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola and incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan advanced in the state's unusual nonpartisan primary. Democrats see the contest among their best opportunities to pick up the one of four seats they need to win control of the 100-seat chamber in November's midterm election.
In Florida, left-wing state lawmaker Nixon scored a surprise victory as she defeated former national security official Alex Vindman, who rose to prominence in 2019 when he testified to Congress during Republican President Donald Trump's first impeachment. Vindman raised 16 times as much money as Nixon.
Nixon, 42, has been active in Florida's labor movement and was reprimanded this year for disrupting a Florida House vote when she protested congressional redistricting legislation with a pink megaphone. In her campaign, she urged voters to "make sure you wear your pink to the polls." She was backed by prominent progressives including Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
She will face Republican Senator Ashley Moody in November's general election. Nonpartisan analysts say Moody is favored to win the matchup and finish the remaining two years in the term of former Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who now serves as Trump's secretary of state.
Republicans are also favored to win the governor's race, in which Republican Byron Donalds will face Republican-turned-Democrat David Jolly.
In Alaska, Democrat Peltola, a moderate who formerly held the state's sole House seat, will face incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan. Alaska has not had a Democratic senator since 2014, but the race is seen as competitive, with Peltola leading the primary 46.8% to 44.4% with two-thirds of the votes in.
The top four candidates in the nonpartisan primary advance to the November election. Peltola stands to benefit from Alaska's ranked-choice voting system, which could allow her to consolidate support among independents.
She also could benefit from having two Republican rivals with very similar names, with Dan J. Sullivan sitting in third in the primary race at around 2.4% support.
The race has drawn the interest of Trump, who called Dan J. Sullivan an "imposter."
The U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether he entered the race to confuse voters and siphon votes from the incumbent, according to a source familiar with the probe. Dan J. Sullivan has told other news outlets that it is not his aim.
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In the state's other race, incumbent Republican Representative Nick Begich III advanced to the general election, as did former school administrator Bill Hill, who is listed as an independent but has donated to Democratic candidates in the past.
VETERAN DEMOCRATS SURVIVE REDISTRICTING, FOR NOW
Two veteran Democratic lawmakers cleared their first hurdle as they sought to survive a Republican redistricting in Florida that forced them to run in new seats.
Representative Jared Moskowitz was projected to win the Democratic primary in Florida's 25th congressional district, fending off challenger Oliver Larkin, who was backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.
Moskowitz will face Republican Scott Singer, a former Boca Raton mayor, in one of the few congressional races in the state seen as competitive in November.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, first elected to Congress in 2004, won her party's nomination to represent a Black-majority district centered in Broward County.
After a Supreme Court decision weakened a landmark civil rights law in April, some activists who worried about losing Black representation in Congress criticized Wasserman Schultz, who is white, for running in the historically Black district.
Elsewhere in the state, Mike Beltran, a state representative, was projected to win the Republican nomination to face Democratic Representative Kathy Castor in a district redrawn to favor Republicans.
Florida's new map, pushed through by the Republican-controlled legislature this spring, could leave the state with a House delegation of 24 Republicans and only four Democrats. Trump, a Republican, won Florida by 13 percentage points in 2024.
States usually redraw their congressional maps only at the beginning of every decade, to reflect census results. But several have redistricted over the past year at Trump's urging to shore up the Republican majority in Congress, prompting some Democratic-led states to redraw their own maps in response.
Republican Representative Cory Mills, who is embroiled in ethics investigations, was defeated in his central Florida primary for reelection by former broadcast news anchor Ryan Elijah.
Mills has denied allegations of campaign finance law violations and sexual misconduct now being probed by the House Ethics Committee. Democrats had seen the seat as a potential pickup opportunity if Mills had won the nomination.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan in Washington, additional reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Cynthia Osterman and Lincoln Feast.)
Source: “AOL Breaking”
