In an upset for the Democratic establishment, progressive Angie Nixon won the party’s US Senate primary in Florida, beating former army intelligence officer Alexander Vindman.

Nixon, a state representative and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, had significantly less funding going into the primary – with $975,000 to Vindman’s $16.3m at the end of July, according to Florida Politics.

But she won by a clear margin. Nixon received 56.1% of the vote, according to the Associated Press, ahead of Vindman’s 43.9%.

Vindman served on the national security council in Donald Trump’s first term and became a well-known whistleblower and witness in the US president’s first impeachment, centered on Trump pressuring Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, to investigate Joe Biden.

Democrats have their sights set on upsetting Republican Ashley Moody in the US Senate general election. Moody, picked by DeSantis to replace Marco Rubio when he became secretary of state last year, won what was almost a token primary election to run in November to serve the remaining two years of Rubio’s term.

Nixon, who was born in Jacksonville, has aggressively opposed DeSantis’s policies, including with a sit-in at the governor’s office this spring to protest Republican redistricting, the Miami Herald reported. That demonstration resulted in her facing misdemeanor charges of trespassing and resisting, which she is fighting in court.

Vindman’s campaign had been focused on Moody, not his primary opponent, and he did not agree to debate Nixon, despite her public calls for him to take the stage with her.

“Floridians don’t want the establishment in Washington DC deciding who their Democratic nominee and US senator is going to be,” Nixon told the Tampa Bay Times in an earlier interview. “I’m someone who’s willing to debate. He’s not. I’m someone who doesn’t have to be briefed on the issues Floridians are facing because I’ve been fighting the attacks alongside them for nearly two decades.”

Vindman praised Nixon in a post on Tuesday night after the race was called, saying she “ran a strong campaign”. “I will be standing by her side in the fight against Ashley Moody. I hope you’ll join me,” he wrote, adding: “Who would’ve ever thought that a Jewish refugee would make it to the US Army, to the White House, and to becoming a candidate for the US Senate. Only in America is that possible.”

Vindman had been expected to win the primary given his huge fundraising advantage. Nixon’s supporters had pointed to one poll suggesting that she would perform better against Moody in November than Vindman, though that poll projected the Republican incumbent would win against either Democrat.

“We did it ya’ll,” Nixon posted on Tuesday night. “Thank you to every person that put their heart into this campaign.”

National Democratic leaders praised Nixon’s victory, with Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, and Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair, releasing a statement noting her background as a former union organizer, saying she had “dedicated her career to fighting for Florida”.

Nixon’s victory follows a series of primary wins for Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates across the country, including in primaries in Philadelphia, Colorado, Michigan and New York City.

But establishment Democrats prevailed in other Florida races this week, in the first election in the state after redistricting. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an 11-term congresswoman and former chair of the Democratic National Committee, defeated Elijah Manley, a 27-year-old substitute teacher who was endorsed by a progressive group. Wasserman Schultz had faced criticisms for running in a district that has a plurality of Black voters and has long been represented by a Black Democrat.

Wasserman Schultz’s previous district was broken up by Republicans’ gerrymandered congressional maps, and she chose not to run in the district where she lives, but in a newly drawn one that was solidly blue.

Jared Moskowitz, a two-term congressman and centrist Democrat, defeated a democratic socialist challenger, running in a new coastal seat extending from Delray Beach to Miami Beach. Moskowitz was up against Oliver Larkin, a 34-year-old who called for universal healthcare and free tuition at public universities and has supported abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Moskowitz was the first congressional Democrat to back Trump’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) initiative, which dismantled the US Agency for International Development. Moskowitz also faced criticism from Larkin over his support for a Republican-backed law that expanded ICE’s detention authority. The centrist congressman has also been a staunch supporter of Israel and voted against a resolution to restrict US military involvement in Iran.