WASHINGTON (TNND) — Florida’s Tuesday primary could be a pivotal test for the Democratic Socialists of America as the group tries to notch more wins before turning its attention to November’s general election.
In Florida’s 25th Congressional District, DSA-backed candidate Oliver Larkin is seeking to unseat Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz. (TNND)
In Florida’s 25th Congressional District, DSA-backed candidate Oliver Larkin is seeking to unseat Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz. Moskowitz is running in a different district than before because of Florida’s redrawn map.
In an interview with Fox News over the weekend, Larkin criticized U.S. spending on overseas conflicts, saying, “We’ve seen so much of our blood and treasure go into foreign wars overseas that have not made Americans safer and we’ve seen a declining state of living.
Larkin’s platform aligns with other DSA and DSA-backed candidates, including support for abolishing ICE, eliminating the Senate filibuster and ending what he has written on his campaign website as Israel’s genocide in Gaza. He also supports tuition-free public colleges.
The United States can more than afford to forgive college loan debt and to make tuition free. We’re spending $1-$2 billion a day on this illegal war with Iran,” Larkin said in the same interview.
In the Democratic Senate primary, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, who has been endorsed by DSA member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is also seeking a win. Nixon is running on policies including Medicare for All, a national rent freeze and taxing billionaires.
We can argue all day about people’s labels but at the end of the day, I care about the needs of people and right now people are suffering and they’re hurting,” Nixon said in a recent interview on Meet The Press.
The DSA’s National Electoral Commission says the organization has won 63 races in more than a dozen states this primary season. The list includes Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York, who ousted five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, and Melat Kiros in Colorado, who upset Rep. Diana DeGette, first elected in 1997.
Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said this weekend that Democratic candidates aligned with the DSA would make up a “Commie Caucus” if Democrats regain control of Congress.
Because if we don’t keep this Republican majority, they will be running the show and they will continue to push and enact these radical things,” Malliotakis told Fox News.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) also addressed the DSA’s influence, saying he does not support the DSA agenda, but those elected in November will be part of the caucus.
“I do not support defunding the police. I do not support open borders. I do not support abolishing the Senate. We’re focused on actually solving the problems hard-working American taxpayers want us to solve,” Jeffries recently told Meet The Press.
New York Times polling shows Moskowitz leading Larkin, with some polls showing a double-digit gap. In the Senate primary, Alex Vindman is considered the front-runner against Nixon on the Democratic side. The winner is expected to face presumptive Republican nominee Sen. Ashley Moody in November.