The Left Notches Another Win With This Secret Weapon: Old-Fashioned Organizing
New York Times · LC · trust 42/100
State Representative Angie Nixon scored a stunning upset on Tuesday in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary. Now comes the hard part: running as a progressive firebrand in a red state.
Listen · 6:37 min Share full article State Representative Angie Nixon of Florida easily defeated her more moderate opponent in the Democratic primary for Senate. Credit... Saul Martinez for The New York Times By Patricia Mazzei
Patricia Mazzei reported from the Angie Nixon campaign on Friday in Miramar, Fla., and from the Alex Vindman campaign on Tuesday in Oakland Park, Fla.
The group of volunteers for her underdog Senate campaign sat inside a union office in suburban Broward County, a liberal stronghold in the increasingly Republican-leaning state. It was a small group, maybe a dozen people.
But don’t worry, Ms. Nixon’s political director, Rachel Gilmer, reassured them: “This tiny room is part of many, many tiny rooms” across the state, she said, with more volunteers also ready to knock on Democratic voters’ doors.
Ms. Nixon, 42, walked in, wearing a big smile and dressed in her signature hot pink, the same color splashed on her van, campaign signs and fliers. She rallied her limited troops.
“This is a people-powered movement,” she told the volunteers, “that is built on the shoulders of working families, on the shoulders of union workers, on the shoulders of folks who have been marginalized for so long.”
Ms. Nixon proved she was right on Tuesday, defeating Alex Vindman, the presumed front-runner, in a stunning upset that energized progressive Democrats in Florida for the first time in years. She won as other candidates from the political left have done across the country, by focusing on the grass roots. She did it with incredibly limited resources.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Read the original at New York Times →
Open in TruthVane →