Florida held primaries on Tuesday as the state played a significant role in shaping the midterm elections later this fall, which will determine control of Congress where Republicans currently hold a narrow advantage. The contests produced mixed results across the state’s political landscape.
In the Democratic Senate primary, progressive state lawmaker Angie Nixon achieved an upset victory over retired Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, a former National Security Council official who testified against President Trump during his 2019 impeachment trial. Despite being outspent by a margin exceeding 16-to-1, Nixon will advance to face Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the remaining two years of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term. However, U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz won his reelection bid in a new Republican-friendly district, defeating union organizer Oliver Larkin.
On the Republican side, Donalds, described as a rising star in the party and a Trump-backed candidate, secured the gubernatorial nomination and is positioned to become the state’s first Black governor if elected. He will face David Jolly, a Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat who won Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. Donalds’ nomination is part of a broader trend, as multiple Black candidates won gubernatorial nominations nationally across both parties.
Congressional races were affected by Republican-led redistricting efforts that scrambled Florida’s map. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a former national party chair, decisively won a contentious South Florida primary against multiple candidates in a plurality-Black district. Elsewhere, Trump-endorsed candidate Catalina Lauf lost her primary for Trump’s former seat to Jim Schwartzel, owner of a conservative talk radio station.
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