Surging Dem with DSA ties is 'either a bona-fide socialist, or she's not very smart': GOP rep

Florida Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon's denial that she is a socialist despite her membership in the Democratic Socialists of America should alarm voters as much as her surprise primary victory did, a lawmaker who fled Fidel Castro's Cuba told Fox News Digital.

Nixon, who upset Trump impeachment witness Alexander Vindman in last week's Democratic primary , told NBC News on Sunday that she is "not a socialist," despite acknowledging her DSA membership.

She said she joined the far-left group because of its platform on public housing, healthcare, veterans and removing big money from politics.

"She's either a bona-fide socialist, or she's not very smart, because she ended up being a member of the Democratic Socialists of America," Rep.

Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital.

"I don't know what the heck she thought she was joining… Socialists [and] communists, deny what they are until they get into power," Gimenez said.

He fled Castro’s Cuba as a child.

FLORIDA DEMOCRAT SENATE NOMINEE ANGIE NIXON INSISTS ‘I’M NOT A SOCIALIST’ AFTER JOINING DSA Gimenez said he experienced that type of political pivot firsthand after Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

Castro denied he was a Marxist and a communist early in the revolution but publicly acknowledged on Dec.

2, 1961 that he embraced Leninism and would do so forever, Gimenez recounted.

SOCIALISM WILL 'CONTROL PEOPLE' AND 'TAKE EVERYTHING AWAY' FROM AMERICA, ACCORDING TO THESE EXPATS Gimenez argued that Nixon’s position, along with those of her DSA allies, "doesn’t sell" to the broader electorate.

"These socialists … are actually using democracy to destroy democracy," Gimenez said, pointing to Venezuela and Nicaragua as examples of movements that initially gained power through elections.

Gimenez said an early act of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez was to pack the Supreme Court.

He argued that socialist and communist regimes typically restructure government so the presidency answers to a single legislative chamber packed with apparatchiks.