By Ana Go\u00f1i-Lessan, The News Service of Florida <\/p>\n
State Rep. Angie Nixon, a staunch progressive, defeated establishment favorite, Lt. Col. Alex Vindman in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, overcoming a vast fundraising disadvantage.<\/p>\n
As of Tuesday evening, Nixon led with about 56 percent of the vote to Vindman\u2019s 44 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are strong, we are united, and it\u2019s going to take all of us to win in November,\u201d Nixon said at her watch party in Duval County on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
Vindman was a central figure in the first impeachment of President Donald Trump, but largely ignored Nixon in his campaign, preferring to focus on Moody and Trump.<\/p>\n
Nixon will face incumbent U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Tampa, in the general election. Moody won 80 percent of the vote, easily defeating her three GOP challengers \u2013 Chris Gleason, who received 14 percent, Ernest Rivera who had 5 percent, and Neelam Perry who received 2 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am energized and inspired by the momentum we are building together,\u201d Moody told supporters in a victory speech in Plant City. \u201cWe are standing for common sense, a commitment to safe communities, a commitment to accountable and responsive government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nixon, who was endorsed by Our Revolution, a national progressive organization associated with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, won with a little less than $1 million in campaign contributions compared to Vindman\u2019s $16.2 million.<\/p>\n
Nixon joins several progressive candidates across the nation who have won their primaries, including Abdul El-Sayed, who won his primary U.S. Senate race in Michigan, and Peggy Flanagan, who won her primary for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota.<\/p>\n
In a released statement, Vindman said he\u2019ll support Nixon in the general election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho would\u2019ve ever thought that a Jewish refugee would make it to the U.S. Army, to the White House, and to becoming a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Only in America is that possible,\u201d Vindman said. \u201cRep. Nixon ran a strong campaign. I will be standing by her side in the fight against\u00a0Ashley Moody. I hope you\u2019ll join me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which backed Vindman, immediately announced its support of Nixon.<\/p>\n
\u201cAngie Nixon has dedicated her career to fighting for Florida. A lifelong native of Jacksonville and a former union organizer, Angie\u2019s dedication to put working families first runs deep \u2013 and now, she\u2019s running to take that fight to the Senate,\u201d U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and DSCC Chairwoman U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-NY, said in a released joint statement.<\/p>\n
Nixon will face Moody, Florida\u2019s former attorney general who was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Gov. Ron DeSantis after Marco Rubio left the position to become Secretary of State.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy focus in being the senator on behalf of Florida is fighting for Florida families, making sure I am accountable to the constituents and that I am moving the ball forward on their issues, clearing out regulations that are making things harder for them or costing money,\u201d Moody told the News Service of Florida on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moody has raised approximately $11.2 million this year. Comparably, Gleason and Rivera raised about $26,000 and $16,000, respectively.<\/p>\n
The winner of the U.S. Senate race will serve the remaining two years of Rubio\u2019s term before facing reelection in 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ana Go\u00f1i-Lessan, The News Service of Florida State Rep. Angie Nixon, a staunch progressive, defeated establishment favorite,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-375720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}