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Progressive state Representative Angie Nixon pulled off a stunning victory in Florida last week, defeating the establishment-backed centrist candidate Alexander Vindman to win the state's Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. Vindman, a former Army intelligence officer who testified during Trump's first impeachment trial, raised more than 16 times as much campaign money as Nixon. In November, Nixon will face incumbent Republican Senator Ashley Moody, who was appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to fill the seat of Marco Rubio when he resigned to serve as secretary of state. If elected, Nixon, who joined the Democratic Socialists of America in June, would become the only member of the DSA in the Senate.
"I know what it's like to struggle. I don't want anyone to have to struggle the way in which I did," says Nixon, whose campaign has focused on expanding healthcare, childcare and education, as well as tackling the affordability crisis.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged the effort was more of a warning shot that would begin a period of "quiet diplomacy."
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With opposition to the centers mounting, many Democrats and a growing number of Republicans are campaigning against them.
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