For the U.S. Senate Democratic Primary, We Recommend Angie Nixon

The Democratic primary for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by Marco Rubio's ascent to Secretary of State features Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the former National Security Council officer who helped launch Donald Trump’s first impeachment, and state representative Angie Nixon, a six-year veteran of the Florida Legislature who has been its strongest voice against partisan gerrymandering.

We applaud Vindman’s courage when, while Director of European Affairs for the National Security Council, he testified that during a 2019 phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump asked Zelenskyy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter, while his father was campaigning for president. This led to an abuse-of-power charge against the president. It demonstrated a willingness to stand up to a vengeful president that has proven rare and should be commended.

That said, Vindman is not a Floridian. He moved to Florida to launch his Senate bid and is primarily financed by out-of-state donors with strong backing from the Democratic national machine. We find his right-of-center platform to be out of step with today’s Democratic voters. He is supportive of the U.S.’s continued support for an Israeli genocide in Gaza (and has denied a genocide is taking place), while failing to speak out on the horrors of the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, where state-approved violence and the theft of land and homes continue unabated.

Vindman is also against universal healthcare at a time when Democratic voters overwhelmingly support it. His twin brother, Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman, represents Virginia in the U.S. House, where he is the most conservative Democrat in the chamber, voting with Republicans nearly as often as with Democrats. We believe Alexander would bring the same sort of MAGA-lite, corporate-elite, Democratic establishment votes to a party that already has far too many elected officials that fit that mold.

What's more, Vindman, who is sitting on a massive campaign war chest, continues to refuse to debate his opponent, signaling that he is content to use that out-of-state money to win without engaging in a substantive debate on the issues, which we find undemocratic. 

In Angie Nixon, we see a Florida native and proven fighter with a long record of going to bat for the people of our state. She embodies the traditional working-class politics that we feel the party has drifted from in recent decades, as it has cozied up to corporate interests in Big Finance, Big Pharma, and Big Tech.

The Florida House reprimanded Nixon in May for disruptive conduct while using a megaphone during a loud, boisterous protest intended to interrupt a congressional redistricting vote. Nixon defended her actions by stating that fighting for democracy is more important than maintaining decorum. We agree.

Nixon is pro-universal healthcare and has called for an end to U.S. military support of the genocide in Gaza. In the Florida House, Nixon introduced a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, de-escalation, the release of Israeli hostages, and humanitarian assistance to Gaza. The resolution was defeated 104–2. "We are at 10,000 dead Palestinians. How many will be enough?" asked Nixon, prompting one of her Republican colleagues to reportedly answer, "All of them," which is the exact sort of genocidal rhetoric that requires someone of Nixon's strength of conviction in the seat.

Nixon has also said that she is open to lifting the embargo in Cuba and believes diplomacy can be a more effective tool, a position that takes courage in Florida, even as the Cuban people devolve into a state of human misery that is arguably unprecedented in the Western world.

Above all, Nixon has made affordability, universal access to healthcare, and an overall leveling of the playing field the hallmarks of her campaign platform. Rep. Nixon knows what everyday Floridians want and need, and we believe she is the best-suited Democrat to fight for them in the U.S. Senate.