Democrats thought they had teed up a perfect opportunity to flip a Senate seat in Florida. They recruited Never Trumper Alex Vindman as the ultimate candidate of defiance, the man who testified in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial. Vindman spent $9 million to tee up the general election challenge to interim appointee Ashley Moody. Democrats expected to pander to the TDS Left with Vindman while avoiding embarrassment.
Instead, the Democrat establishment got depantsed last night in Florida by radical Democratic Socialist Angie Nixon, who reportedly spent less than a million dollars on her primary race. Nixon will bring the entire DSA agenda into her campaign, including the anti-Israel polemics in a state with one of the largest numbers of Jewish voters. And it wasn’t even particularly close; Nixon beat Vindman by double digits, 56/44.
Punchbowl sees most of the damage this implosion will cause. They also note the incompetence of Vindman and the establishment at failing to take Nixon seriously:
Nixon had the backing of Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and she’s a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Vindman ran as the more moderate candidate, especially on Israel, and he earned praise from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Florida has shifted to the right since 2016, and the seat was never central to Democrats’ plan to win control of the Senate this year. But Moody isn’t well known, having been appointed to the seat in January 2025 by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis. Moody is a former Florida attorney general. She also served as a U.S attorney in the George W. Bush administration.
Vindman was at least positioned to force Republicans to spend a ton of cash. Instead, his campaign seriously misplayed its hand. Vindman ended July with more than $7.2 million in the bank and spent just $2 million on ads, according to AdImpact.
This is just another example of the sharp leftward turn of the Democratic Party and its primary electorate.
It appears that Vindman wanted to reserve cash for a tough general election campaign against Moody. Apparently, no one told the former military officer about the need to secure one battle before preparing for another. Not that it would have made a lot of difference; polls showed Moody easily ahead of Vindman, including a recent University of North Florida survey that put Vindman behind by ten points.
As for Moody, she could hardly believe her good fortune. In her victory speech last night, Moody drew her own battle lines against the DSA, making it clear that she intends to warn Florida voters that the radical inmates have taken over the asylum at all levels:
Sen. Ashley Moody draws a DSA opponent, wastes zero time in defining her pic.twitter.com/eEKvJa2ks6
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 19, 2026
Moody isn’t the only big winner from this election. The NRSC has to be absolutely giddy at the result as well, given the implications for its general-election strategies. First off, they won’t have to shift resources to defend Moody against a well-funded establishment challenger. More importantly, Democrat voters just handed the NRSC and the GOP a clear pattern of radical Marxist candidates in key races – Michigan and Florida, and arguably Maine and Texas – that they can truthfully turn into a national narrative. Every single Senate race will get fought on the basis of Nixon and Abdul El-Sayed, not to mention some of the lunatic DSA candidates in House races. The midterms won’t be a referendum on Trump, but instead a campaign to stop communism from seizing power in the United States.
It’s an incredible gift, handed to Republicans and Trump on a silver platter. They’d better be prepared to use it.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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