Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon waits to speak during a visit to the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church on Aug. 17, 2026 in Hallandale Beach, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Democratic socialist Angie Nixon scored an upset victory on Tuesday in Florida’s Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate, as media outlets projected she defeated former national security official Alex Vindman.
It was a surprising result as voters in several states picked candidates to run in the November midterm election, which will determine control of Congress.
More surprises could be in store in Alaska, where polls in most of the state closed at 8 p.m. local time (0400 GMT Wednesday).
The state’s unusual nonpartisan primary pits incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan against Democratic challenger Mary Peltola and another Republican with a similar name, Dan J. Sullivan. Trump has accused Dan J. Sullivan of trying to confuse voters and dilute the Republican vote, and his Justice Department has launched an investigation. Dan J. Sullivan, a former schoolteacher, says that is not his intent.
In Florida, Vindman, a retired Army officer who rose to prominence in 2019 when he testified to Congress during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, raised 16 times as much money as Nixon, a state legislator.
Nixon, 42, has been active in Florida’s labor movement and was reprimanded this year for disrupting a Florida House vote when she protested congressional redistricting legislation with a pink megaphone. In her campaign, she urged voters to “make sure you wear your pink to the polls.” She was backed by prominent progressives including Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
She will face Republican Senator Ashley Moody in November’s general election. Nonpartisan analysts say Moody is favored to win the matchup and finish the remaining two years in the term of former Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who now serves as Trump’s secretary of state.
Republicans are also favored to win the governor’s race, in which Republican Byron Donalds will face Republican-turned-Democrat David Jolly.
Veteran democrats survive redistricting, for now
Two veteran Florida Democratic lawmakers cleared their first hurdle as they sought to survive a Republican redistricting that forced them to run in new seats.
Representative Jared Moskowitz was projected to win the Democratic primary in Florida’s 25th congressional district, fending off challenger Oliver Larkin, who was backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.
Moskowitz will face Republican Scott Singer, a former Boca Raton mayor, in one of the few congressional races in the state seen as competitive in November.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, first elected to Congress in 2004, won her party’s nomination to represent a Black-majority district centered in Broward County.
After a Supreme Court decision weakened a landmark civil rights law in April, some activists who worried about losing Black representation in Congress criticized Wasserman Schultz, who is white, for running in the historically Black district.
Elsewhere in the state, Mike Beltran, a state representative, was projected to win the Republican nomination to face Democratic Representative Kathy Castor in a district redrawn to favor Republicans.
Florida’s new map, pushed through by the Republican-controlled legislature this spring, could leave the state with a House delegation of 24 Republicans and only four Democrats. Trump, a Republican, won Florida by 13 percentage points in 2024.
States usually redraw their congressional maps only at the beginning of every decade, to reflect census results. But several have redistricted over the past year at Trump’s urging to shore up the Republican majority in Congress, prompting some Democratic-led states to redraw their own maps in response.
Republican Representative Cory Mills, who is embroiled in ethics investigations, was defeated in his central Florida primary for reelection by former broadcast news anchor Ryan Elijah.
Mills has denied allegations of campaign finance law violations and sexual misconduct now being probed by the House Ethics Committee. Democrats had seen the seat as a potential pickup opportunity if Mills had won the nomination.
Democratic Congressional candidate Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) campaigns outside of the Kings Point Clubhouse polling station on Aug.18, 2026, in Tamarac, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Sullivan vs. Sullivan in Alaska
In Alaska, some opinion polls show Democrat Peltola, a moderate who formerly held the state’s sole House seat, leading Senator Dan S. Sullivan — an unusual result for a state that typically backs Republican candidates.
Democrats, who are seeking to pick up at least four seats from Republicans to win control of the 100-seat Senate, see the Alaska race as one of their strongest opportunities.
The top four candidates in the nonpartisan primary advance to the November election. Peltola stands to benefit from Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, which could allow her to consolidate support among independents.
She also could benefit if challenger Dan J. Sullivan makes the cut.
The race has drawn the interest of Trump, who urged voters on social media to “be careful. VOTE FOR THE REAL DAN SULLIVAN TODAY,” and called challenger Dan J. Sullivan an “imposter.”
In the House of Representatives, incumbent Republican Representative Nick Begich III is facing a challenge from former school administrator Bill Hill, who is listed as an independent but has donated to Democratic candidates in the past. Thirteen other candidates are also on the ballot.
