Angie Nixon on division between progressive, establishment Democrats: 'It's not about labels'
The Hill · C · trust 30/100
Comments: by Mira Bhakta - 08/19/26 8:19 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Mira Bhakta - 08/19/26 8:19 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon (D), who defeated President Trump whistleblower Alex Vindman in the Sunshine State’s Democratic Senate primary, said Wednesday the divisions in the party were not important.
“It’s not necessarily a socialist message or a progressive message. It’s actually just about the needs of people,” Nixon said in a Wednesday appearance on “CBS Mornings.”
“People want the same things,” she continued, to be “healthy, prosperous and safe.”
“They want to make sure that people are looking out for these rights that they deserve, which are healthcare, which are housing, which are voting rights, and it’s actually resonating, and they’re supportive of them,” she said.
Nixon, who was first elected to the Florida state House in 2020, defeated Vindman by more than 12 points in the primary, according to Decision Desk HQ . Nixon also became a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in July, whose candidates have won primaries across the country this year.
“I think it’s pretty clear that what we are seeing is something more permanent, more expansive and more of a challenge to the conventional wisdom of the party than we have seen in a generation,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne said about DSA.
Trump celebrated the upset in a Wednesday post that called Nixon a “Radical Left Lunatic, who can’t speak or think properly.”
The president added that Nixon will “go down to certain defeat” against Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) — whom Trump called “truly fantastic” — in the November general election.
Moody was tapped by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to fill Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Senate seat in 2025. Both candidates are vying to serve the last two years of Rubio’s term, which is up in 2028.
Whoever wins the November election will still need to run again in 2028 if they want to serve the full six-year term.
The democratic nominee still faces an uphill battle as nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates the Florida Senate seat as “solid Republican.”
The last time Florida elected a Democrat to the Senate was in 2012, when former Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) won his third term.
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