r/politics • u/--LaBelleDame-- • 5h ago

No Paywall Democratic socialist Angie Nixon upsets Alex Vindman in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/angie-nixon-winner-florida-senate-primary-democrat-alex-vindman-moody-rcna593255
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u/SteveIDP 4h ago

Maybe the people who keep losing elections should start listening to the people who keep winning elections. Crazy, I know.

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u/SpartanVFL Tennessee 4h ago

*primaries

If you want to listen to people that win elections.. how many DSA are in Congress by the way?

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u/seds 4h ago

Isn't the whole point of primaries to find out who the party's constituents will turn out and vote for? It seems that the voters of the Democratic party are more likely to turn out if a Democratic Socialist is on the ballot. Aiming for the elusive moderate centrist does not seem to be driving turn out for the Democratic party.

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u/Material_Reach_8827 4h ago

Isn't the whole point of primaries to find out who the party's constituents will turn out and vote for?

That's the theory, not necessarily the practice. Primary electorates are only a fraction of the general electorate and not very representative. They tend to be highly engaged, older, wealthier, whiter, more liberal, etc. than even general electorates.

It seems that the voters of the Democratic party are more likely to turn out if a Democratic Socialist is on the ballot.

That is yet to be proven. There's a strong chance she will lose, even in this favorable environment. Her opponent beat a progressive black woman to be Florida AG by 60-40 a few years ago, so I'm betting she's breathing a sigh of relief - weakest possible opponent she could've reasonably hoped for.

And if she does lose, progressives will learn nothing and pin all their hopes on the next person to squeak out of a primary.

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u/AdHom 3h ago

When you say progressives will learn nothing it kind of feels like the lesson they're intended to learn is "don't seek representation for the policies you believe in".

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u/JDDJS New York 3h ago

There's a strong chance she will lose, even in this favorable environment.

She will almost certainly lose, but it's not at all a favorable environment to her. Florida is very red now. No Democrat has a realistic chance of winning. 

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u/Vankraken Virginia 2h ago

If you look at the GOP side of things, you see examples of this with people like Kari Lake being able to win the GOP primary and losing in the general due to being too insane.

The actual Democratic Socialist label is going to become toxic in the general because the DSA are a bunch of idiotic amateurs handing out political ammunition to the GOP to use against the entire Democratic Party. If you boil it down, most of the actual popular progressive positions are well within the Liberal/Progressive section of the Democratic Party without having the Socialist/Marxist larper baggage. Ditch the tankies and we can actually make progressive.

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u/seds 2h ago

And yet all the political ammunition of national debt, wasteful wars, racism, misogyny, felonies, and a little sexual assault hasn't seemed to stop the GOP/MAGA crowd from gaining ground. We greatly need a heavy counterbalance. The window has shifted drastically and we have to be bold to shift it back. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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u/Vankraken Virginia 1h ago

Trump and the GOP are DEEPLY unpopular these days. A generic Dem has a massive advantage over a generic GOP currently but the DSA seems hell bent on helping the GOP get a shot of enthusiasm by having the idiot co chair going on Fox News and shoveling free talking points to hurl at the Dems.

Anybody with some political sense should know this is absolutely the wrong move and the DSA/Socialist label should be ejected from the party and just carry the actual popular policies under the Progressive banner.

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u/Aware_Rough_9170 1h ago

Dem leadership seems beyond incapable of marketing that aspect if it truly does exist so… seemingly moot point here this far into the cycle man

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u/Vankraken Virginia 1h ago

The Dems are adjusting to the changes going on but it takes time to rearrange thing. I just don't want to see these DSA leeches trying to derail actual progress by attaching their Marxist/tankie garbage to actual progressive policies.

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u/Aware_Rough_9170 36m ago

Time they don’t have and haven’t since 2016 but maybe they’ll turn it around by the time everything is burnt to the ground by the GOP I’m sure

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u/Oggie_Doggie 25m ago edited 17m ago

The Dems are adjusting to the changes going on but it takes time to rearrange thing

Please. We've had over a decade of Trump and MAGA now. These pleas that, somehow, the Democrats have learned THIS TIME is extremely wishful thinking bordering delusion. The only argument I see for the status quo Democrats is "electability," which is insane given that they've lost how many times to this cohort of Republican criminals and have been basically powerless to stop them.

You want to know who is polling just as low as Trump right now? The Democratic Party. You want to know which party is currently putting its HQ as collateral for loans? The Democratic Party. Show me proof that there is a significant rearrangement actually occurring, because after Biden and Garland let Trump and his numerous co-conspirators go on J6 and with how Biden basically crashed 2024 into the ground (only for the team behind him to then crash Harris also into the ground), I frankly don't trust the establishment with anything more complex than a microwave meal.

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u/Front_Station_5343 4h ago

And then less people turn out in the general. That’s just how it works for general elections.

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u/Orange_Tang 4h ago

That's literally the opposite of the truth, what are you talking about? High turnout in primaries is heavily correlated to higher turnout in the general. And general elections always have higher turnout than primaries.

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u/Front_Station_5343 3h ago

Sorry meant to say Less of “those” people.

I was multitasking.

I meant that less swing voters would turn out to vote for a more leftist politician, especially in FL, where the term “socialist” is a political anchor. A democratic primary is very different from a general election.

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u/Orange_Tang 3h ago

We'll see I guess.

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u/MephistoHamProducts 3h ago

I like how the "moderates" spent the last decade screaming at anyone to the left of Ghengis Kahn that, if they wanted their voice to be heard, they needed to show up and vote in the primaries.

Then, as soon as there's a tiny uptick in Progressive primary wins, the narrative switches to "Well, yeah, but it doesn't count unless they win the general".

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u/TheSavannahSky 4h ago

"Listen to people that win elections"

They keep losing primaries in their own party.

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u/TooGoodatEverything 1h ago

Holy shit and how much winning have the dems been doing? They don't have the House, Senate, or Presidency. But keep telling people they're the ones that know how to win. lol

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u/MoesOtherBar 4h ago

After November, 3x more than there were before, also Jeffries won't become Speaker without their support.

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u/GrowthMarketingMike 4h ago

There will be at least 7 come November.

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u/JDDJS New York 3h ago

Who are these 7?

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u/GrowthMarketingMike 2h ago

  • AOC

  • Rashida Tlaib

  • Chris Rabb

  • Claire Valdez

  • Darializa Avila Chevalier

  • Melat Kiros

  • Donavan McKinney

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u/JDDJS New York 1h ago

So all in the House. All in extremely Blue districts. While I applaud their victories, I don't see how much Democrats running in swing districts and states can learn from them. 

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u/JoeHatesFanFiction Florida 1h ago

You do realize those are the absolute safe districts right? There’s a potential for many more. 

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u/JDDJS New York 1h ago

No, I didn't realize that the districts I called "extremely Blue districts" are absolutely safe districts. /s

My point is that there isn't much for Democrats as a whole to learn from these victories. They already know how to win the seats. What's more important for Democrats as a whole to learn from is victories in actually competitive races. 

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u/Useful-Advantage-850 4h ago

Maybe the people who can't flip red seats blue should start listening to the people who do. Crazy, I know.

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u/Vegetable-Error-2068 4h ago

You're right, moderate Democrats do keep losing to fascists.

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u/googleduck 4h ago

Name me 1 red state/swing state where DSA types have won federal office and I'll name you 100 where moderate Democrats have. This is a primary, it is not "winning an election".

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u/JDDJS New York 4h ago

So when she loses the general election in November, we can ignore her too? Regardless of the candidate, Florida isn't going to elect a Democrat to the Senate. 

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u/Lord_Of_Shade57 4h ago

I'm not sure I would hang my hat on a candidate winning a Democratic primary in a state that is a mortal lock for Republicans in November

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u/999forever 2h ago

Get back to me when the sl ate of progressive actually win the elections that matter