Democrats continued to trade blows in their factional war on Aug. 18 with a progressive firebrand prevailing in the Florida Senate primary, while two centrist House incumbents fended off more left-leaning challengers.
The primary contests stretched across the continent on Tuesday with most of the action taking place in the Sunshine State, where state Rep. Angie Nixon, an outspoken Democratic Socialist of America member, defeated Alex Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, in a stunning upset.
"We showed the world what organized people can accomplish," Nixon said during her victory speech.
At the same time, Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, two well-known Florida Democrats solidly in the establishment camp, won their respective
fight to remain on Capitol Hill against progressive opponents.
Both were thrusted into freshly gerrymandered districts created by the state legislature at President Donald Trump's behest to give Republicans an advantage in the midterms this fall.
In both races, the two incumbents faced insurgents who ran under the democratic socialist banner, with campaigns that emphasized universal health care, cost of living concerns and opposition to Israel.
Florida voters also were charged with selecting contenders to succeed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former presidential candidate who is term-limited.
Here are the key takeaways from Tuesday's election.
Nixon shocks Florida Democrats with primary upset
Everything was stacked against the 32-year-old state legislator in a race establishment Democrats had hoped to make somewhat competitive this fall.
There was little polling in the race but many had expected a win by Vindman, a former national security official who testified against Trump during his first impeachment trial. He outpaced Nixon in fundraising by a wide margin.
But with about 95% of precincts reporting, Nixon, won the primary by about 11 percentage points in arguably the most surprising win for a DSA candidate this year.
"We did it ya'll... the fight has just begun," Nixon said in an Aug. 18 post on X.
We did it ya'll. Thank you to every person that put their heart into this campaign. I'll be going live soon on Instagram and Facebook. Join me to celebrate how far we have come, and get ready, the fight has just begun. pic.twitter.com/DYbRMK1uqq
— State Rep. Angie Nixon (@AngieNixon) August 19, 2026
Nixon ran on a platform that called for universal healthcare and a $25 an hour minimum wage. She gained a bit of notoriety after staging a sit-in at Gov. Ron DeSantis' office earlier this year in protest against Florida's redrawn congressional map.
That incident is set for trial in September where she is charged with trespassing and resisting an officer without violence.
Nixon is the first Black woman to win a major party nomination for Senate in Florida and will now face Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in a race forecasters rate as solidly in the GOP column. But progressives and DSA activists are likely to spotlight this win as another example of their grassroots strength.
Moskowitz beats back 'anti-Zionist' democratic socialist foe
Centrists looking to keep democratic socialists at bay scored a high-profile win in Florida's 23rd Congressional District, a newly drawn area that forecasters rate as the only toss-up House race in the state.
Moskowitz, a fierce defender of Israel, coasted to victory over Oliver Larkin, who went viral for many of his confrontations with conservative commentators over his views on cable TV leading up to the election.
Initial results showed the two-term incumbent winning by almost 30 percentage points in a district that is 25% Jewish with a high concentration of Holocaust survivors.
Much of the race centered on the U.S. relationship with Israel, which has defined several Democratic primaries this year.
Larkin ran as a sharp critic of the foreign ally, calling its war in Gaza a genocide and casting himself as the "anti-Zionist" option in the race. Moskowitz, who is Jewish, declined to debate his opponent, accusing him of "running against me solely on my religion," which Larkin denied.
Wasserman Schultz wins historically Black district
Wasserman Schultz, a former Democratic National Committee chair, raised eyebrows when she jumped in the race for Florida's 20th Congressional District, which was another newly created seat.
That's because the district is made up of a plurality-Black area at a time when Black Democrats are concerned about eroding diversity initiatives and representation on Capitol Hill.
Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court limited parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in a ruling cheered by conservatives as a symbol of a colorblind society, but that civil rights leaders and other liberal critics say could ultimately reduce the number of Black and Hispanic members of Congress.
Wasserman Schultz, who is White, argued her years of experience would benefit South Florida constituents, but she was sharply criticized by fellow Democrats for entering the race against four Black candidates: Dale V.C. Holness, a former Broward County mayor; Elijah Manley, a teacher and democratic socialist; former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who resigned amid a fraud scandal; and Luther Campbell, founder of hip-hop group 2 Live Crew.
Wasserman Schultz received a plurality of the vote, defeating Holness, her closest rival, by about 25 percentage points.
Donalds v. Jolly set for Florida governor's race
Rep. Byron Donalds joined the growing rank of Black candidates running for governor after winning Florida's Republican gubernatorial nomination.
Donalds, 47, received the key Trump endorsement and raised more than $100 million for his campaign in a campaign that featured incendiary attacks by GOP primary rival James Fishback, a conservative activist who lobbed anti-Black remarks against the congressman throughout the election.
Donalds, a rising GOP star in the House, now faces former Rep. David Jolly, a Republican-turned-Democrat and noted Trump critic, who glided through his nomination by a 55-point margin. He is hoping to stitch together a coalition of Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans in a contest that will favor the GOP in a state Trump carried by 13 percentage points in 2024.
Donalds is just the second Black candidate nominated for Florida governor, following former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a Democrat, made history as the first Black major-party nominee in 2018.
Embattled Trump-backed contender loses GOP primary
The president’s touch wasn't enough to get Rep. Cory Mills over the hump after troubling misconduct allegations saw many fellow Republicans turn against him before the Aug. 18 primary.
Mills was the subject of a House ethics investigation over alleged "sexual misconduct and/or dating violence" stemming from a Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department response to a report that he had assaulted a woman with whom he was in a relationship.
The congressman has faced calls from within his own party to resign over the allegations, which he vehemently denied and that Trump overlooked when supporting him for reelection.
By a decisive 13-point margin, however, Republican voters chose Ryan Elijah, a former Orlando-based news anchor, who was backed by Reps. Mike Haridopolos and Anna Paulina Luna. The outcome marks another rare loss for Trump in terms of picking winners in GOP primaries this year.
Elijah beat out Mills along with three other Republicans, to face Democrat Bale Dalton, a former Navy Captain and NASA chief of staff, in the fall.
Contributing: Terry Collins, Emily R. Condon
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Socialist candidates' mixed results in Florida primaries: 5 takeaways
