Anti-Israel socialist candidate Angie Nixon pulled off an upset victory late Tuesday in Florida’s Democratic Party primary for a US Senate seat, defeating odd-on favorite Alex Vindman for the nomination.

Her win came as Israel and antisemitism played a major role across Florida’s primary elections, which had several prominent anti-Israel, and even openly anti-Jewish, candidates on the ballot, including Dan Bilzerian and James Fishback, both of whom were comfortably defeated by pro-Israel candidates in their Republican Party primaries. Elsewhere in the state, several Jewish, pro-Israel candidates won races in heavily Jewish districts, beating out anti-Zionist challengers.

In the Democratic Party Senate primary, Democratic Socialists of America-backed Nixon defeated Vindman, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel and Ukraine-born Jewish refugee who outraised her 16-fold, to secure the party’s nomination. But she faces an uphill battle in November’s general election, as Democrats haven’t held a US Senate seat in Florida since 2019.

Nixon will face off against Republican nominee and incumbent Sen. Ashley Moody, who replaced Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he assumed the top diplomat role in the Trump administration.

Nixon has made noise in her party for pushing pro-Palestinian legislation on the state level, advocating for “de-escalation and ceasefire in the state of Israel and occupied Palestine,” less than a month after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel.

Vindman, whose twin brother is a congressman in Virginia, attained broader name recognition during the first Trump administration, when he publicly testified about a controversial phone call between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Somewhat unusually, Trump celebrated the result, posting on Truth Social: “SleazeBag Vindman loses tonight to a Radical Left Lunatic. How cool is that???”

“A lot of great WINS tonight!!!” the president wrote, as candidates he endorsed secured several nominations in his home state.

One such win was Jewish far-right firebrand Rep. Randy Fine, who secured a landslide victory in his Florida GOP primary, ending perhaps the most toxic race in the state, which was marked by antisemitic tropes, allusions to Adolf Hitler and sharp attacks on Islam.

He soundly defeated influencer Dan Bilzerian, who has spread conspiracy theories about Jews, has previously said that he wants to “kill Israelis” and described his opponent as a “fat Jew.”

“District 6 understands the Jewish problem,” Bilzerian posted on X on Saturday, following up the next day with a message that “the Jew is scared.” A recent Bilzerian campaign music........

© The Times of Israel