Tuesday night’s primary elections featured closely watched federal races from sunny South Florida to the frigid Alaskan tundra and two states in between, all of which will help decide whether Republicans maintain control of Congress, or whether Democrats overtake them.
Three states also featured critical gubernatorial primary elections.
Observers are already using the race results as bellwethers to gauge Trump’s grip over the GOP and the power of the emergent socialist movement.
Here’s what stood out:
Sunshine State socialist scores shocking Senate upset despite being heavily outspent
A socialist will have a chance to unseat a sitting Republican senator after upsetting a heavily favored opponent who outspent her nine-to-one.
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member and Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon scored a massive upset in the state’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Nixon ran against retired Air Force Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a prominent critic of Trump who played a central role in the left’s failed 2019 impeachment attempt, who was expected to emerge victorious.
She defeated Vindman by almost 12 points, despite his $16.3 million war chest, compared to hers of only about $1 million. As of July, Vindman had spent about $9 million on the race, while Nixon had spent just over $700,000.
TRUMP’S HANDPICKED DESANTIS SUCCESSOR WINS CROWDED GOP PRIMARY FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR
Nixon will square off in a statewide race against Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla.
Trump has a hit-or-miss endorsement night
Across the country, some of Trump’s endorsed candidates won their respective races, while others struggled.
Trump-endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., won the Sunshine State’s Republican gubernatorial primary against a field that included Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and outsider James Fishback. Donalds won 47%, compared with 25% for Collins and 10.5% for Fishback.Â
Donalds will face former Florida Republican congressman-turned-Democrat David Jolly, who won the nod for the job on the Democratic side.
TRUMP FLEXES GOP MUSCLE IN ARIZONA PRIMARIES AS DEMS DODGE FAR-LEFT UPSET
Likewise, Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, herself a Trump endorsee, took home a victory in a special Senate primary election to finish the remainder of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate term, which ends in 2028. Moody was appointed to the seat last year after Rubio joined the Trump administration.
Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Florida’s 6th Congressional District, also endorsed by Trump, easily won his reelection bid.
However, it wasn’t all smiles for Team Trump.
Scandal-plagued incumbent Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who represents the state’s 7th Congressional District, lost his race to challenger and former TV anchor Ryan Elijah.
Trump endorsed Mills in February, but the congressman is facing a wide-ranging House Ethics Committee investigation into possible campaign finance violations, allegations of assault against a romantic par
