Democratic socialist will face Republican rival in Florida after Senate primary upset

Progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon scored a major upset over former National Security Council aide Alex Vindman in the Florida Democratic Senate primary, NBC News projects, setting up a general election race against Republican Sen. Ashley Moody.

Vindman, a retired lieutenant colonel and Iraq War veteran and who rose to prominence as a witness during President Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment hearings, was viewed as a heavy favorite against Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, heading into Tuesday’s contest. Vindman has raised $16 million for his campaign, a significant number for a Democrat in red-leaning Florida.

Nixon regularly criticized Vindman for only recently moving to Florida, and said her campaign was an attempt to prove that insurgent progressive politics has a place in Florida politics.

“Florida: the choice is OURS,” Nixon posted on social media as part of her closing message. “We will decide our future, not billionaire donors or the establishment politics of DC.”

Vindman received national attention when as an aide to the National Security Council he gave congressional testimony about a 2019 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the U.S. president was pushing for an investigation into Joe Biden, who at the time was a Democratic candidate for president.

The testimony helped launch Trump’s first impeachment by the House. Trump was ultimately acquitted by the Senate, and Vindman was later fired from the NSC.

Vindman had largely ignored Nixon — the two never met for a primary debate — and attempted to focus on Moody.

Moody is running for a full six-year Senate term after she was appointed last year to the seat by Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace Marco Rubio after he was nominated by President Donald Trump to be secretary of state. She easily fended off several challengers to win her Republican primary on Tuesday, NBC News projects.