Democratic Socialist Angie Nixon has edged retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman in their Aug. 18 primary to win the Democratic berth in November’s special election to complete the last two years of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate term.
Nixon, who earlier this year declared she had joined the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) party but downplayed that association during the campaign, will face former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who breezed to victory in her GOP primary, in the general election.
An outspoken, fiery progressive who has represented her Jacksonville district in the Florida House since 2016, Nixon’s charismatic campaign overcame Vindman’s overwhelming fundraising advantage to secure the Democratic nod by 11 percentage points in a race called by The Associated Press at 8 p.m. ET.
But it wasn’t enough to overcome Nixon’s appeal to a motivated progressive base galvanized by the former union organizer’s in-your-face fireworks and disdain for centrist Democrats.
She drew support from notable left-wing U.S. House members such as Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a member of the DSA.
Nixon is one of two DSA-endorsed candidates running for Congress in Florida. Oliver Larkin, also a former union organizer, is challenging heavily favored incumbent Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz as a DSA-backed underdog.
Nixon’s 2026 resolution demanding “a de-escalation and ceasefire in the state of Israel and occupied Palestine” has spurred bipartisan criticism as anti-Semitic, and her association with the DSA is expected to rankle the state’s large Cuban and Venezuelan communities with memories of life under communist rule.
Moody, therefore, begins the 76-day campaign to the Nov. 3 election as the prohibitive favorite after sweeping past technology consultant and Army veteran Chris Gleason, physician Dr. Neelam Perry, and Rev. Ernie Rivera in the Republican primary race called by the Associated Press shortly after polls closed statewide at 7 p.m.
She was appointed to fill Rubio’s seat by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2025 after the three-term senator was tabbed by President Donald Trump to serve in his Cabinet. A former assistant U.S. attorney and Hillsborough County circuit court judge, Moody was twice elected state attorney general, serving in that capacity in 2019–2025 before DeSantis named her as Rubio’s temporary successor.
Although outraised by Vindman, Moody enters the general election with a significant fundraising advantage over Nixon. According to her campaign’s July 29 FEC filing, she has raised $11.26 million, spent $2.776 million, and had $8.48 million in cash-on-hand.
There was little polling to gauge the pulse of both party primaries before the Aug. 18 vote. The most widely cited survey was a July canvass of 848 likely voters by the University of North Florida that had Moody beating Nixon by 8 percentage points and beating Vindman by 10 percentage points in a general election matchup.
Moody will also have numerical leverage. According to the Florida Division of Elections, of the state’s 13.5 million registered voters, the GOP holds a 1.6 million advantage over Democrats in a former battleground state that has become a Republican stronghold in the last decade.
As of 11 a.m. on Aug. 18, as polls were open for Election Day voting, the division reported more than 1.153 million Floridians had already voted either during the state’s Aug. 8–15 early voting period or by mail-in ballot.
More than 893,000 registered Republicans had voted in the closed primaries, 444,814 by mail and 448,532 in early voting. More than 835,000 Democrats had cast ballots, including 529,657 by mail and 305,496 in early voting.
Rubio’s Senate seat is one of 33 in the chamber on November’s ballot. Of those 33 seats, 20 are held by Republicans, who hold a 53–47 chamber majority.
