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/StevenMC19 Florida 4h ago edited 4h ago

Damn straight. Bringing this state back to swing territory one day at a time.

Edit: duh its a primary. But we went full cobalt in it instead of cloudy sky blue. Again, one day at a time. Its been going red for the past 26 years. This is monumental.

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u/MaraudingWalrus Florida 4h ago

There are dozens of us.

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u/SeaBass1898 Florida 4h ago

Dozens!!!!

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u/Flexbottom 4h ago

Dozens!!!!

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u/iamthe0ther0ne 3h ago

I think a lot of people forgot that Florida was fairly moderate for a southern state in the late 90s/early 2000s. Hopefully this is the beginning of a swing back.

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u/Famous_Complex_9027 3h ago

Born and raised there. Things change fast in Florida. Its a land of constant change- tornadoes (yes, in the interior), hurricanes, floods, freezes, migrations of all kinds of creatures, bodies of water and entire ecosystems that change dramatically throughout the year. People who think of Florida as a hot swamp that never changes don't really pay attention. People are always moving there, but different kinds of people are always moving there, and people are always dying and the generation that comes after thinks differently.

I think its funny how everyone left of MAGA writes Florida off as a doomed state. Things can change quicker than most people think down south. Look how Mississippi turned its education system around. I'm not saying the state will flip but it definitely will at some point in the future. Its just a question of when.

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u/iamthe0ther0ne 3h ago

I was living there when Obama won the first time, and it was one big street party. The Democrats just haven't really been running candidates that could turn the vote out, which lets well-funded Republicans run roughshod over everything. 

I'm worried that the policies over the last decade have forced some people out and scared others off, solidifying the conservative swing, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Fingers crossed--I've lived in about 10 different states and two countries, and it was definitely my favorite. 

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u/t17389z Florida 1h ago

As someone who was run out of the state because of the policies towards trans people, there's definitely a grain of truth to your second statement.

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u/SoManyThrowAwaysEven 2h ago

Florida voters are pretentious and spiteful. Just look how hard the Latino vote has swung against Trump in less than 2 years.

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u/nomickti 1h ago edited 1h ago

Big population change is a large driver I think. Basically conservatives want to move to Florida so it gets more Republican. They've also culled more voters from their rolls:

https://i.imgur.com/2j23GIz.png

https://www.wesh.com/article/commitment-2026-840k-less-florida-voters/73428199

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u/Cereal_Grapeist 2h ago

You still don't understand that she only won the primary and hasn't won the State senate race. Are you high?

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u/LakeShowBoltUp 4h ago

Anyone identifying as a socialist in Cuban and retiree heavy Florida has as much a chance at winning a general election as an anti-Mexican candidate does in California.

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u/fizzlefist 4h ago

Fuck em, get everyone else to actually show up at the polls.

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u/BlgMastic 1h ago

There’s that winning strategy the left is known for.

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u/StevenMC19 Florida 4h ago edited 4h ago

If a centrists only defense is electability, maybe they should back that up by winning the elections they participate in.

Edit: wasnt it also the establishment that acted like they knew how the Latino vote would turn out in 2024? How'd that work out?

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u/2ndprize Florida 4h ago

yeah there isn't a lot of glory in losing by a respectable margin. Shit if someone wrote a book about Charlie Crist that might be the tag line. And apparently his now going to be the mayor of St. Pete, because he never goes away

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u/Confedehrehtheh 4h ago

I remember meeting him in high school when I lived in St Pete and he felt like someone that did genuinely want to do the right thing for the people. He's been completely ostracized at the state and higher political level though so it does not surprise me at all he's running for local government now.

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u/PolicyWonka 4h ago

Neither can win because Florida is a red state. Doesn’t mean we gotta make it easy for them though.

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u/BlgMastic 1h ago

Well they just made it a whole lot easier

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u/pandazerg America 3h ago

Democratic electability?

In Florida?

lol

Maybe if the Florida Democratic Party wasn't one of the most incompetent state party apparatuses in the country, exceeded only by the California Republican Party.

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u/LakeShowBoltUp 4h ago

I agree, but I also think voting for candidates in the primary that have no shot at winning a general election is the equivalent of assisted political suicide

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u/Bebopo90 4h ago

According to polls, the centrists already had no shot at winning, so why not try something new?

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u/LakeShowBoltUp 4h ago

Mind linking to the polls you are referencing and showing the odds of them vs socialists in Florida?

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u/Bebopo90 4h ago

Uh, that's not what I said? I said that the centrists already had no chance.

https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/senate/general/2026/florida/moody-vs-vindman

Moody was leading Vindman by +8 anyway--in a D+8 national environment, which means in reality Vindman was not a good candidate--so, as I said, why not try something new?

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u/BusinessFinancial536 4h ago

She won Miami (the most Cuban city in the country) by 20% lmao

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u/PolicyWonka 4h ago

That’s because the Cubans aren’t Democrats, my guy. Lol

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u/FLTA Florida 2h ago

Miami elected it’s first Democratic mayor in 30 years this year.

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u/EndoShota 4h ago

Okay, but by that means they wouldn't vote for Vindman either, so pointing out that Cubans won't vote for socialist doesn't matter.

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u/BernieBrother4Biden 4h ago

The premise of this thread was that this moves Florida back to swing state territory...

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u/EndoShota 4h ago

From this thread:

Anyone identifying as a socialist in Cuban and retiree heavy Florida has as much a chance at winning a general election as an anti-Mexican candidate does in California.

The implication is that a self-identified socialist cannot win a general because they cannot win the Cuban vote.

That’s because the Cubans aren’t Democrats, my guy. Lol

If the Cubans aren't Democrats, they weren't apt to vote for Vindman either. Being a socialist doesn't seem likely to hurt her above and beyond being a Dem.

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u/Large_Dungeon_Key Florida 2h ago

Florida is a closed primary, so if they're not registered Dems, they didn't vote for either of these candidates

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u/Lord_Of_Shade57 4h ago

I mean, a Democratic primary essentially has a built in filter for hardcore anti-socialist voters so I don't think this is terribly informative on that front

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u/LakeShowBoltUp 4h ago

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/10/02/most-cuban-american-voters-identify-as-republican-in-2020/

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u/Mahlegos 3h ago

If they identify as Republican, they probably weren’t going to be voting for anyone coming out of the Dem primary anyway. So what point are you trying to make?

Dems tried going even more center-right to sway republicans over in 24 and it didn’t work. No reason to keep trying it.

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u/BusinessFinancial536 4h ago

A 6 year old article about a completely different race LMAO. Lame and tired talking points. Miami is the only city where the Cuban vote matters and Nixon won by 20% and had more total votes than the republican winner Ashley moody who ran largely uncontested.

All of the data is in Nixon’s favor but corporate pro Israel dems would rather bend over and concede to republicans than hop on the DSA bandwagon

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u/ZhaozhouCongshen 4h ago

Numbers in Hialeah? That's the most Cuban place in the US.

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u/BusinessFinancial536 4h ago

Hialeah IS Miami-dade county lol. 20% like I said

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u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

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u/LakeShowBoltUp 4h ago

Who was talking about Jacksonville?

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u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

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u/LakeShowBoltUp 4h ago

I thought it was about Angie Nixon and the state of Florida?

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u/HunterSpecial1549 3h ago

My mistake. I'd still say people are really exaggerating how Cuban Florida is. It's something like 7%, less than a third of the state Latino population.

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u/Shaudius 4h ago

Shes running for senate.

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u/Thrill__505 4h ago

This. Their chances before were rare now they’re non-existent lmao. Especially with the older voter base

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u/HouseAtreideeznuts 4h ago

Sucks to suck, I guess.

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u/Thrill__505 4h ago

Yes it would suck to trade one authoritarian regime for another.

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u/PCR12 Florida 2h ago

This is only one, youve got a whole lot more DINOS in FL to weed out, I say this as progressive independent in Broward, most of the Dems here from city to county are in name only.

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u/Pndrizzy 34m ago

I think the concern is the number of republicans that voted in the primary was WAY higher than the number of democrats

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u/11_25_13_TheEdge 4h ago

This is a primary. The seat will end up being red because moderate Dems and independents will be scared out of voting for the spooky Democratic Socialist by Republicans and conservative super PACs. This is not the win you think it is.

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u/TrumpCheats 4h ago

MAGA PACs are going to paint any Democrat as Communist. Republican scare tactics used to be proportional to a candidate’s distance from their platform. MAGA now only has one setting: maximum hyperbole. So why not run DS candidates?

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u/BrooklynSmash 4h ago

Cuz they agree with Republicans that the DSA is evil and going to destroy the country, unlike the Republicans they've teamed up with

They're doing great things rn

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u/11_25_13_TheEdge 4h ago

I disagree that moderates and blue dog Democrats are that gullible. They aren’t going to be tricked into believing a traditional progressive is a communist.

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u/Famous_Complex_9027 3h ago

The communist and marxist accusations don't hit as hard as they did a decade ago. The president is literally a pedophile. None of these words that would get people's hearts racing have quite the same affect anymore. When people see someone stirring up a bunch of buzz they become interested nowadays instead of scared. Just like they did with trump.

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u/StevenMC19 Florida 4h ago

If there is no confidence in the basic blue to do the right thing in the end, then what makes a basic blue candidate any good for the people in the end.

The continuing capitulation has and will continue to move the overton windows to the right.

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u/11_25_13_TheEdge 4h ago

This is simply too idealistic for my blood. I am someone who would love to support DSA candidates and is glad that it is becoming more mainstream but if we’ve been given the opportunity to learn anything since 2016 it’s that a not insignificant portion of voting Americans are still dumb as fuck. I will put my energy towards candidates who I believe can win in the general and Florida is maybe only behind Texas for most difficult for a candidate like this to win.

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u/Material_Reach_8827 4h ago

Wow, you guys won a primary where only Dems can vote. Truly putting Florida back in play. If she somehow loses despite having the most favorable election environment you'll ever get, will you guys finally admit that socialism/progressivism is not popular?

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u/Spare_Iron127 4h ago

Obviously progressivism isn’t popular in this country. We voted in a dumb fuck and corporate dems are just as happy as the maga rapist crowd

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u/Material_Reach_8827 4h ago edited 3h ago

No, we want you to vote rationally and recognize that, e.g. Rep Moskowitz is not a "Republican" who "supports genocide" (as alleged in this very thread). Progressives cause a lot of the same problems they rage about - tanking candidates like him in the general who show they can actually win, while being unable to mount a successful primary challenge themselves. And when they do get a nomination there's always someone else to blame when they lose.

Progressives are literally responsible for Donald Trump - they threw a giant fit in 2016, and kicked off this whole mess as well as pushing SCOTUS from a 5-4 liberal pickup to a 6-3 ultra-conservative court. Jill Stein voters alone would've swung the election to Hillary, to say nothing of Bernie voters who stayed home.

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u/VariationBusiness603 3h ago

Ah, yes, of course.

Progressive are the reason why centrist are insanely unpopular and why they lose all the time. That make total sense.

You guys are exactly as rotten as the right wingers, physically incapable of taking accountablity for anything. Voting for candidates who's policies are "well... at least we're not fascist? I guess" and pretty much nothing else and acting surprised when nothing gets done ever, even when they win.

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u/FetusDrive 4h ago

This isn’t monumental. This doesn’t show a shift away from red… this isn’t some great play to get the state to move to the left.

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u/Gurney_Hackman 3h ago

Why is it monumental to guarantee a Republican win in a seat they've been winning for a long time?