Things Are Not Going Well With Florida Dems Right Now

Angie Nixon had a great primary night on Tuesday. She raised very little in the grand scheme of things and took down favorite Alex Vindman, who had millions in the war chest. Nixon, a state representative and democratic socialist, is known for her meltdown on the state house floor over the new maps and for her arrest after staging a shoddy sit-in at Gov. DeSantis’ office.

 

She walloped Vindman 56 to 44. 

Yet she’s now facing some institutional beefs, including with Florida Democrat Party Chair Nikki Fried.

 

 The two had a phone call this week, described as shambolic. There are conflicting reports: one account says both women got into a proverbial catfight over the phone, while another claims Nixon yelled at Fried. The point is that Nixon cannot run a hard-left campaign, not in Florida, which has supplanted Texas as the king of red states. It’s also something of an open secret that Nixon and Fried aren’t friendly at all, and that the latter is irritated that the former beat Vindman. Nixon appears more than aware of the circumstances, so Florida Democrats are not in a good place right now (via Axios):

According to two people who spoke with Nixon, both she and Fried yelled at each other over the course of the call. Another person who spoke to Fried said the chair did not yell but was yelled at.

"Nikki wants her to back away from DSA, from socialism," said one person who spoke with Nixon. "She's listening to other people saying that they're afraid, they're scared — the Jewish members and the Hispanic caucus. But to Angie, Nikki doesn't want Angie to be who Angie is. Angie has already done the backing-away."

On the call, Nixon told Fried, "You never gave a care about me from the beginning, and now you're telling me how to run my campaign?" according to the source.

At one point, the source said, Nixon yelled, "stop gaslighting me!"

The other side: A Florida Democratic Party official disputed that Fried yelled at Nixon.

The official also said that the state party tried multiple times to contact Nixon's team about the coordinated campaign, but often haven't had their calls returned.

But, the person added, Nixon's field team did participate in a call with the party's coordinated campaign this week.

[…]

Between the lines: A second person who talked to Nixon described the feud as "a clash of ideology — but it's also a clash of personalities."

 

"Nikki needs to be careful," the person added. "She can't afford to be seen by black voters disrespecting a black woman."

Another Florida Democratic official with knowledge of the dispute said Nixon and Fried have never been friendly and that Fried "was very disappointed that Angie won. She made that pretty well known."

Before the election, the source said, Fried was predicting Nixon would lose and was "calling around telling people, 'Hey, can you make sure when he wins that Angie is nice and welcoming and does all the things to bring everybody together?'"

"I know Nikki doesn't like it, but Angie is the engine right now. Angie is the national story, and Nikki just can't stand it."

The ironic part about the Axios story is that Nixon apparently has had better relations with David Jolly, the ex-Republican congressman who is now the Democratic gubernatorial candidate and has rejected socialist overtures. We’ll see how long that lasts, because Nixon will soon be ready to be around, and she’ll want to cling to anything to boost her chances. 

This state could’ve had a competitive race, but Democrats decided to be morons again, and now both statewide races are likely to be GOP sweeps. 

Well, that’s life.