TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Rep. Byron Donalds captured the Republican nomination for Florida governor and Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, upset retired Air Force Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman for the Democratic Senate nomination Tuesday, setting a November lineup that will decide who succeeds Gov. Ron DeSantis and offering Democrats a long-shot Senate pickup.

The primaries, called by The Associated Press, produced a governor's race pitting Donalds against former Republican-turned-Democrat David Jolly and a Senate contest between appointed Republican Sen. Ashley Moody and Nixon for the final two years of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's term. Cook Political Report rates the governor's race Solid R, and Florida last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 2012.

The governor's race

Donalds, a three-term congressman from Naples endorsed by President Trump, defeated Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and outsider James Fishback, taking 47 percent of the vote to Collins's 25 percent and Fishback's 10.5 percent, Fox News reported. A House Freedom Caucus member, Donalds forced 15 rounds of voting when he challenged Kevin McCarthy for the speakership in 2023.

Jolly, a former GOP congressman who switched parties, becomes the second Republican-turned-Democrat that Florida Democrats have nominated for governor in as many cycles. Fishback, whose campaign drew attention for his support from Nick Fuentes and his use of racial slurs and sexist language, according to CBS News, finished a distant third.

A socialist upset

Nixon defeated Vindman by nearly 12 points despite being outspent about nine to one, Fox News reported. Vindman's campaign had disbursed roughly $9 million against her $700,000 as of July, out of a $16.3 million war chest. Nixon, 42, a Jacksonville legislator since 2020, ran on Medicare for All, free childcare, paid family and sick leave and a national rent freeze.

"Like in many parts of the country, Florida voters were fed up," Nixon said in a statement Tuesday night. Voters, she added, chose someone who will fight for "lower costs, higher wages, Medicare for All, and a people-powered government that prioritizes families."

Vindman, a National Security Council whistleblower who testified in Trump's first impeachment trial, conceded and endorsed her. "Rep. Nixon ran a strong campaign. I will be standing by her side in the fight against Ashley Moody. I hope you'll join me," he said in a statement.

Moody, a former Florida attorney general appointed to Rubio's seat in January 2025, dispatched a field of lesser-known Republicans. Trump, who endorsed her last month, said Moody was "doing a tremendous job representing the incredible people of Florida."

Down the ballot

Trump's endorsement record was mixed. Rep. Cory Mills, whom Trump backed in February, lost his 7th District primary to former television anchor Ryan Elijah while facing a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of campaign finance violations, assault against a romantic partner and improperly received gifts. Mills has denied wrongdoing. Catalina Lauf, who received an 11th-hour Trump endorsement, finished second to media executive Jim Schwartzel in the five-way primary to replace Donalds in the 19th District.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz survived a five-way primary in the redrawn 20th District, defeating former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness and self-described socialist activist Elijah Manley, who had raised nearly $1 million. Manley made race central to the contest. Manley told NBC News on Monday: "One of the last remaining opportunity districts that we have in the South being held by a white Democrat, that's unacceptable."

The Republican counter

Republicans cast Nixon's nomination as a windfall in a state that has moved sharply rightward. Fox News catalogued the DSA platform — Medicare for All, a national rent freeze and, in the case of losing 25th District House candidate Oliver Larkin, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement — as evidence of a party pulled to its left flank. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, the centrist Democrat who beat Larkin 64 percent to 36 percent, framed his own win as a rebuke. "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," he said.

The general election is Nov. 3, 77 days away. Democrats need to gain four seats to flip the Senate.