A Democratic Socialists of America member ousted Alexander Vindman in Florida's U.S. Senate primary by nearly 12 points, one of several results Tuesday night that tested the limits of big-money campaigns and presidential endorsements alike.
State Rep. Angie Nixon, running on roughly $1 million in total fundraising, defeated Vindman despite the retired Air Force lieutenant colonel's $16.3 million war chest. Vindman had spent about $9 million on the race as of July. Nixon spent just over $700,000. The spending gap amounted to a nine-to-one disadvantage for the DSA-backed candidate, and it did not matter. Fox News Digital reported Nixon's victory sets up a general election showdown with Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who was appointed to the seat after Marco Rubio left the Senate to join the Trump administration.
Moody won the special Republican primary to finish the remainder of Rubio's term, which runs through 2028. She will now face a self-described socialist in November, a matchup that would have been difficult to imagine even a cycle ago in a state that has trended sharply rightward.
Vindman became a household name during the 2019 Trump impeachment proceedings, where he served as a key witness for Democrats. That national profile helped him raise a war chest that dwarfed every other candidate in the race. But Florida Democratic primary voters chose Nixon anyway, handing the DSA its most significant electoral win in the South.
Nixon was not the only socialist-aligned candidate on Florida ballots Tuesday. In the 20th Congressional District, DSA-endorsed activist Elijah Manley placed third behind Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness. Manley raised nearly $1 million for his campaign and openly argued that a white Democrat should not hold the seat, which he described as a historically Black district.
In a Monday night interview on NBC News, Manley made his case in blunt terms:
"One of the last remaining opportunity districts that we have in the South being held by a white Democrat, that's unacceptable."
Wasserman Schultz won the primary despite criticism that she does not live in the redrawn 20th District. The seat was vacated after former Rep. Sheri Cherfilus-McCormick resigned in April while facing federal criminal charges involving alleged misuse of disaster-relief funds. Cherfilus-McCormick has pleaded not guilty. She ran anyway and placed fourth.
Not every socialist-backed candidate fared well. In Florida's 25th Congressional District, Rep. Jared Moskowitz defeated DSA member Oliver Larkin by a 64%-36% margin. Larkin, a former Bernie Sanders campaign field director, had campaigned on abolishing ICE and prosecuting its members, packing the Supreme Court, a $25 minimum wage, ending the Cuba embargo, and granting statehood to D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Moskowitz issued a pointed statement after the results came in:
"Tonight, Democratic voters sent a clear message. I faced a challenge from the DSA. They threw everything at me and I didn't change who I am or what I believe, and the voters overwhelmingly chose the independent-minded approach I've brought to Congress. I led the effort to have Kristi Noem fired, I've taken on this Administration, and I've taken on extremes in the DSA and won."
Moskowitz now faces former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, a Republican, in a district he acknowledged was "hand-drawn by Republicans to defeat me." The race will test whether a centrist Democrat can survive in a seat that has shifted rightward after redistricting.
On the Republican side, Rep. Byron Donalds captured the Florida gubernatorial primary with 47% of the vote, well ahead of Lt. Gov. Jay Collins at 25% and outsider James Fishback at 10.5%. Donalds will face former Republican congressman-turned-Democrat David Jolly in the November general election.
Donalds carried Trump's endorsement into the race, but his victory speech told a more complicated story. The New York Post reported that Donalds did not mention Trump by name in the speech, though he touted the president's legislative achievements, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. When reporters pressed him on the endorsement, Donalds offered a candid assessment:
"You can't just sit back and think the president's endorsement is going to carry you."
That remark captured the broader reality of the night. Trump posted "A lot of great WINS tonight!!!" on Truth Social, but the results told a more uneven story across multiple races and states.
In Florida's 7th Congressional District, Trump-endorsed incumbent Rep. Cory Mills lost his Republican primary to Ryan Elijah, a former television anchor. Trump had endorsed Mills back in February, but the congressman was weighed down by a House Ethics Committee investigation into possible campaign finance violations, allegations of assault against a romantic partner, and allegations of improperly received or solicited gifts. Mills has denied wrongdoing, but voters in the lean-red district chose to move on.
The Mills loss was not the only Trump endorsement that failed to connect. In Florida's 19th Congressional District, a deep-red seat, Trump gave Catalina Lauf an 11th-hour endorsement. She finished with 22% of the vote in a five-way primary. Media executive Jim Schwartzel won with 29.1%. Jim Oberweis placed third at 15.7%, and former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who was defeated in 2022 amid scandal, finished fourth.
Lauf and Oberweis had crossed paths before. Both ran in Illinois' 14th Congressional District primary in 2020, where Oberweis won the nomination but lost the general election to a Democrat. Lauf later ran unsuccessfully in Illinois' 11th District in 2022. Their rematch in Florida ended with both losing to a local candidate who had no presidential endorsement at all.
Rep. Harriet Hageman delivered the clearest Trump endorsement win of the night. She held a 62%-28% lead over cattle rancher Sam Mead in the Wyoming U.S. Senate Republican primary with 80% of votes counted. Wyoming has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2006, making her effectively the next senator from the state.
But Trump's pick for Wyoming governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, lost to state Sen. Eric Barlow. Barlow held a 50%-29.7% advantage with three quarters of votes counted. The pattern of Trump endorsements carrying weight in some races but falling flat in others has surfaced repeatedly this cycle, including in a recent Michigan GOP primary where a retired engineer defeated a Trump-backed candidate.
Wyoming's lone House seat also produced a competitive result. Secretary of State Chuck Gray won a five-way primary with just 25% of the vote, edging businessman Steve Freiss at 20.7% and Army veteran Kevin Christensen at 17.8%. Rep. Randy Fine, another Trump endorsee running in Florida's 6th District, easily won his reelection bid, a quiet success overshadowed by the louder losses elsewhere.
Alaska's non-partisan primary system, which sends four candidates to a ranked-choice general election, produced its own set of results. Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola finished as the top vote-getter in the U.S. Senate primary, holding a lead of less than 1% over Trump-endorsed incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. Sullivan had faced 15 challengers in the primary field. Both advanced to November.
Peltola lost her House seat to Republican Nick Begich III in 2024 and is now attempting a comeback in the Senate race. Begich will be on the November ballot to defend his House seat alongside independent fisherman Bill Hill, with two additional spots in the four-candidate field still uncalled early Wednesday morning.
In Alaska's gubernatorial primary, Democrats Tom Begich, Nick Begich III's uncle, and Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins both secured spots in the general election. The top two contenders were separated by only two percentage points when the Associated Press called the race. The final two slots in each of Alaska's three statewide races remained outstanding, a function of the state's sprawling geography and slow vote-counting process.
Primary upheavals have become a recurring feature of the 2026 cycle. Redistricting battles in states like Indiana and Tennessee have already cost incumbents their seats, reshaping the Republican landscape heading into November.
The DSA now has a Senate nominee in the third-largest state in the country. Republican voters, meanwhile, showed they are willing to back Trump's candidates when the candidate earns it, and willing to walk away when the candidate does not. A presidential endorsement opens doors. It does not close elections.
