Florida primaries set Donalds-Jolly governor race; Nixon wins Senate upset

The Big Picture

Florida voters set the major-party matchups for two of the state’s most prominent November contests, selecting Republican Rep. Byron Donalds for governor and Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon for the U.S. Senate.

Donalds, who was backed by President Donald Trump, won the Republican nomination to succeed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. He will face Democrat David Jolly in the general election. In the Senate primary, Nixon defeated former Army intelligence officer Alexander Vindman in a result described by The Guardian as an upset for the Democratic establishment.

The primary also included contests for a number of U.S. House seats following redistricting, NPR reported. Among the notable results, Republican Rep. Cory Mills lost his bid to keep his House seat, according to NPR.

What Happened

Donalds won the Republican gubernatorial primary over three prominent rivals, including Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, whom DeSantis had backed, The Guardian reported. Donalds has represented southwest Florida in the U.S. House since 2021.

His victory creates a November contest with Jolly for an open governorship. DeSantis is leaving office, and the primary result gives Donalds a chance to move from Congress to the governor’s office while carrying the endorsement of Trump.

In the Democratic Senate contest, Nixon emerged as the nominee over Vindman. Nixon is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and will face Republican Ashley Moody in November.

The outcome was particularly striking because Vindman entered the final stretch with far more campaign funding. According to Florida Politics figures cited by The Guardian, Nixon had about $975,000 at the end of July, compared with $16.3 million for Vindman.

Why It Matters

The results establish the choices Florida voters will have in November for offices that shape state and federal policy. The governor’s race will determine DeSantis’s successor, while the Senate election will decide who represents Florida in Washington.

Nixon’s victory also demonstrated that a candidate with a smaller campaign treasury could prevail over a better-funded opponent in a statewide Democratic primary. The Guardian characterized her win as a setback for the party establishment, which had backed Vindman.

For Republicans, Donalds’s nomination places a Trump-backed congressman at the center of the governor’s race. His defeat of Collins also meant that the candidate supported by DeSantis did not win the party’s nomination.

Background

Florida’s primary ballot included nominations for governor, the U.S. Senate and multiple House seats. NPR said the congressional contests came after redistricting, adding to the significance of the election night results beyond the statewide races.

Donalds has served in Congress since 2021, representing southwest Florida. The Guardian reported that he had pledged to implement Trump’s agenda if elected governor.

Nixon entered the Senate primary as a progressive state representative with substantially fewer financial resources than Vindman. Her win now gives Democrats a nominee heading into a general-election contest against Moody.

What Happens Next

Donalds and Jolly will campaign through the fall in the race to succeed DeSantis. Nixon and Moody will do the same in the Senate contest.

The House races will also move to the general-election phase after the primary results, including the contest for the seat Mills sought to retain. NPR reported that Mills was among a recent string of members of Congress who had faced scandals and domestic-abuse allegations while running for office.