MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Three states held primaries last night - Alaska, Florida and Wyoming.
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
In Alaska, results are still being counted in a U.S. Senate race - incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan and former Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola. Each has about 45% of the vote, according to the AP. Two more candidates will move on, but which ones remain undetermined. The next-closest candidate is the other Dan Sullivan in the race, with less than 3%.
MARTIN: In Florida, there's a mixed picture in the contest between progressives and moderates across races for House seats and the Senate. Here to fill us in on those races is NPR political correspondent Ashley Lopez. Ashley, good morning.
ASHLEY LOPEZ, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: Let's start with a Democratic U.S. Senate primary, where there was a win for a progressive candidate there. And I take it that that win was seen as a surprise.
LOPEZ: Yeah. It was. So state Representative Angie Nixon beat Alexander Vindman in that race. Vindman became a national figure after he was a witness in President Trump's first impeachment trial. Nixon, in comparison, did not have a national profile. But, you know, I was a local reporter in Florida over a decade ago, and I often came across Nixon because she has been very active in state politics for quite a long time. Not only is she a member of the Florida legislature, but she's fought some high-profile labor and voting rights battles as an activist in the state.
And that was apparently quite an asset in a race where she was drastically outraised. Vindman raised more than $16 million in this race, and Nixon barely raised $1 million. And yet she won decisively. During her victory speech last night, she said her win was an example of what organized people can accomplish.
MARTIN: And what about in the general, though? Like, what are...
LOPEZ: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...The odds for a candidate like Nixon in Florida these days?
LOPEZ: I mean, she faces long odds, obviously. Florida has become a pretty solidly conservative state in recent years. I should say, this seat isn't one that national Democrats have been optimistic about flipping, unlike Alaska, which also had its primary last night. The Top 4 vote-getters in that race will move on to the general later this year.
But in Florida, Nixon will be running against Republican Senator Ashley Moody, an incumbent who was endorsed by President Trump. And moving forward, a big question is how Nixon positions herself as she tries to get votes from, you know, a broader electorate in a red state. And she ran on a lot of progressive ideas like Medicare for all, universal childcare and raising taxes on billionaires. She also joined the Democratic Socialists of America but was never endorsed by the group.
MARTIN: And I take it there were other progressives in House races with platforms similar to Nixon's, but they did not win. Tell us about.
LOPEZ: Yeah. They lost. This wasn't an across-the-board win for the progressive candidates. Oliver Larkin, who was backed by the DSA in Florida's 25th Congressional District, lost his challenge to Congressman Jared Moskowitz. I mean, this is a fairly moderate district, though. It's one of the very few actual toss-up races in the country this year. GOP lawmakers in Florida redrew this district this year to make it harder for Democrats to win that seat, so it would have been a tough race for whoever wins.
And speaking of redistricting, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was drawn out of her district by Republicans earlier this year. And she decided to run for one of the few safe Democratic seats - Florida's 20th Congressional District - and she won last night. However, she ran against a slate of Black candidates in that race. This is a seat that had been held by a Black representative for years. So this outcome is pretty complicated for Democrats, especially in the wake of the Supreme Court all but gutting the Voting Rights Act this summer.
MARTIN: And what about the people running to replace Governor Ron DeSantis?
LOPEZ: So it's two members of Congress running to replace DeSantis, who is term-limited. Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination, and former Republican Representative, now Democrat David Jolly won the Democratic nomination. A Democrat hasn't been elected governor in Florida since the '90s, so this is also a long shot for the party. DeSantis' departure will be a big change in the state. He pushed a very conservative agenda, and since he took office, Florida has become a reliable state for his party.
MARTIN: That is NPR political correspondent Ashley Lopez. Ashley, thank you.
LOPEZ: Yeah. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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