Angie Nixon scores socialist breakthrough in Trump's Florida

Angie Nixon's stunning Florida Senate primary win on Tuesday gave the Democratic Socialists of America its biggest statewide breakthrough yet: For the first time this year, a DSA member won a major-party nomination for statewide office.

Why it matters: The breakthrough —the biggest upset in modern Florida Democratic politics— was also stunning because Republicans have spent years making opposition to socialism central to their political brand in the state.

Nixon, a Jacksonville state representative and former union organizer who joined DSA during the campaign, beat former Trump impeachment witness Alex Vindman .

The scale of the upset was extraordinary: Nixon won by double digits despite raising just $975,000 to Vindman's $16.3 million in President Trump's home state.

Zoom out: Nixon's breakthrough came one week after fellow DSA member Francesca Hong narrowly lost Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary and two weeks after a left-wing candidate, Abdul El-Sayed , won Michigan's Senate nomination.

But El-Sayed isn't a DSA member and rejects the socialist label, calling himself a capitalist.

The only sitting member of the Senate who identifies as a socialist, Vermont's Bernie Sanders, is not a member of DSA.

Behind the scenes: Shocked establishment Democrats were left scrambling Tuesday night to welcome Nixon to the general election.

At the same time that Republicans were ready to make her a national figure.

"We couldn't have picked a better candidate," said one of Trump's political advisers.

"I wish we could take credit for secretly funding her, but this wasn't us." What they're sayin g: "I reject socialism," the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, David Jolly, said on MSNOW.

He also shared kind words about Nixon as a "fighter" for better healthcare and education.

Vindman's defeat adds to a rough primary year for Democrats whose national brands were built around Trump's impeachment fights.

Former impeachment counsel Dan Goldman, impeachment manager Diana DeGette, along with Al Green and Shri Thanedar, both of whom have introduced impeachment articles during Trump's second term, all lost Democratic primaries this year.