Key Florida Takeaways: A Socialist Upset and Far-Right Flops

A Democratic socialist won Democrats’ Senate primary in Florida, scandal felled a controversial GOP lawmaker, and insurgent far-right provocateurs were defeated. Also, Rep. Byron Donalds inched closer to making history as the state’s first Black Republican governor after notching a comfortable primary victory.

Here are takeaways from Tuesday’s elections in the Sunshine State:

In a win for progressives, Democratic socialist state Rep. Angie Nixon upset retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman in a special Senate Democratic primary. Nixon, who was significantly outraised by Vindman, campaigned on Medicare for All and a federal minimum wage of $25 an hour. Vindman had moved to Florida in recent years after being a central figure in Trump’s first impeachment. His twin brother, Eugene Vindman, serves in the U.S. House representing a district in Northern Virginia.

Far-left candidates have had a mixed showing in recent big races, with Abdul El-Sayed winning the Democratic race for Senate in Michigan but Francesca Hong losing the governor contest in Wisconsin.

Nixon will face off against current GOP Sen. Ashley Moody, who was tapped by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the seat Secretary of State Marco Rubio vacated last year and who easily won her primary. Republicans are strongly favored to keep the seat in the fall, but the win by Nixon could shake up expectations.

GOP Rep. Cory Mills lost his House primary bid to former news anchor Ryan Elijah, following allegations against the congressman ranging from domestic abuse and revenge porn to improper business dealings and claims of stolen military valor. He has denied wrongdoing. Elijah received the backing of several Florida lawmakers, including GOP Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Haridopolos. Including Mills, four GOP and seven Democratic incumbents have lost their primaries this cycle.

President Trump backed Mills earlier this year, but in a series of endorsements of Florida primary candidates last week, Trump omitted Mills from his list. The defeat signals GOP officials’ and Republican voters’ limits in tolerating candidates mired in controversy—who could also be vulnerable to Democratic challengers in the fall.

Businessman Jim Schwartzel defeated Trump-backed pick Catalina Lauf, a former Trump administration official, for the GOP nomination for Donalds’s current House seat in southwest Florida. Former Republican Reps. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Chris Collins of New York were also defeated in the crowded field. Collins was pardoned by Trump in 2020 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to law enforcement.

In a separate race, former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who quit her seat in April, was trying to win it back. She left Congress amid an ethics investigation over allegations of financial fraud, money laundering and campaign-finance rule violations, which she called a witch hunt. But she lost Tuesday—drawing just 9.2% in a crowded field. Longtime Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who ran in the district after her own constituency was redrawn, emerged as the winner with 45.4%, according to the Associated Press.

In the Republican gubernatorial race, provocateur James Fishback, whose campaign drew national attention for racist remarks about Donalds as well as antisemitic comments, finished a distant third behind Donalds and Jay Collins, the state’s lieutenant governor.

Donalds will face off against former Republican Rep. David Jolly, who changed parties and won the state’s Democratic primary, in the November general election. Donalds was backed by Trump, but DeSantis didn’t endorse him.

Social-media personality Dan Bilzerian, whose antisemitic postings were denounced by both House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.), finished a distant second in his challenge to GOP Rep. Randy Fine. The incumbent has stoked his own controversies, including a social-media post in which he said he would choose dogs over Muslims. Fine won by nearly 40 points.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D., Fla.), a pro-Israel moderate who has described himself as a “Ron DeSantis Democrat,” won his primary against Democratic socialist challenger Oliver Larkin, an activist and union organizer. Moskowitz, who is known for his antics trolling Republicans, will face the former mayor of Boca Raton, Scott Singer, in a high-stakes House race after Florida’s legislature passed new maps that favor the GOP.

While Florida was the main event, Wyoming also made election news Tuesday. Trump’s pick to be the state’s next governor of the solidly red state, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, lost handily to rancher and state lawmaker Eric Barlow in the GOP primary. The result marks another blemish on Trump’s endorsement record, after previous losses in the Iowa and Minnesota governor primaries, among others. In another important Wyoming contest, Rep. Harriet Hageman won the GOP contest to succeed Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who is retiring.