As regular readers know, establishment Democrats have been freaking out over the rise of socialist candidates - whose policy positions are virtually identical, except the socialists are getting elected saying the quiet part out loud - giving the game away.
On Tuesday, Democratic Socialist Angie Nixon beat Russiagate hero Alexander Vindman in a shocking double-digit primary win in Florida - setting the stage for Nixon to square off with Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in November. The battle to unseat Moody was always going to be uphill - and now the state's Democratic party is freaking out.
According to Axios, Nixon and the state party's chair - Nikki Fried, got into a heated shouting match over the phone - with Fried reportedly warning Nixon that her DSA ties give the GOP an easy angle to attack going into midterms.
"Nikki wants her to back away from DSA, from socialism," one person who spoke with Nixon told the outlet. "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. -Axios
An official with the Florida Democratic Party disputed that Fried yelled at Nixon - insisting that the state party tried to contact Nixon's team multiple times about a coordinated campaign - but that their calls weren't returned. That said, Nixon's field team did participate in a call with the party's coordinated campaign last week.
"The DSA label could create an opening for misinformation and allow Angie's opponents to define her in ways that don't reflect her actual record or positions, rather than letting voters hear directly from Angie about what she believes and what she's running on," said the source.
A second source told Axios that not only was the feud a clash of ideology - but "also a clash of personalities."
"Nikki needs to be careful," said the source. "She can't afford to be seen by black voters disrespecting a black woman."
Another Florida Democratic official told the outlet that Nixon an Fried have always hated each other, and that Fried "was very disappointed that Angie won. She made that pretty well known."
More via Axios:
- 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."
- One of the Florida Democratic Party sources said that the organization did not favor Vindman over Nixon and was neutral in the primary.
Fried's freakout is just the latest example of establishment dems pushing back against the DSA. That said, Nixon was a recent 'convert' to the party, and according to the report - she was trying to distance herself from various DSA positions. She says she doesn't back abolishing prisons, just for-profit ones, she doesn't support open borders, and she doesn't want to defund the police (or so she says).