Florida Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Angie Nixon drinks a Cuban coffee in front of a mural of singer Gloria Estefan while on a tour of the Little Havana neighborhood on August 15, 2026, in Miami.Joe Raedle/Getty
Florida State Rep. Angie Nixon just defeated Alex Vindman, the presumed frontrunner, in the state’s Democratic Senate primary—even though Vindman raised roughly sixteen times as much money as Nixon.
Nixon, 42, helped lead the fight against Republican-led redistricting in Florida that disproportionately supports GOP voters, who are mostly white. According to the Miami Herald, 86 percent of Florida’s congressional districts will favor the GOP, even though only 41 percent of voters are registered Republicans. The three-time state lawmaker from Jacksonville protested the bill during an April legislative session and videos of her wielding a pink bullhorn and declaring “this is a violation of the constitution” went viral. Nixon also staged a sit-in at the governor’s office in May, where she was arrested and faces a jury trial on charges of trespassing and resisting an officer without violence in September.
Despite Democratic opposition, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis approved the new map in May. In June, the state’s Supreme Court allowed the new map to stay in effect for the upcoming 2026 US House elections.
Nixon ran on an affordability platform, pushing Medicare for All, free childcare and family leave, and a national rent freeze and moratorium on evictions. She touted endorsements from Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Maxwell Frost and—featured prominently on her website—the children’s content creator and activist Miss Rachel.
“These things are not radical, they’re not extreme,” Nixon said during her primary victory speech on Tuesday night. “This is just basic human decency; it’s caring for our neighbors.”
Vindman, whose national public profile mostly centers on his role as a witness and director of European affairs for the National Security Council in the first Trump impeachment over the 2019 Ukraine scandal (and on his twin brother Eugene, who is a Virginia congressman), has never held elected office in Florida. Nonetheless, Vindman raised over $16 million for his campaign, according to FEC data, and polls pointed to his likely victory. He seemed sure he would win—so much so that he reportedly had a fundraiser in Nantucket scheduled for this coming week. He lost by 12 percentage points.
Nixon now faces an uphill battle in November. She’ll be facing off against DeSantis-appointed Republican incumbent Ashley Moody, who replaced Marco Rubio when he became secretary of state. Moody is also a staunch proponent of President Trump’s voter-suppression efforts, including co-sponsoring the SAVE America Act. Florida hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 2012, when former Senator Bill Nelson won his third term.
