Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who lost Tuesday’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Florida, said he’ll be giving away the millions he raised for his campaign “to the places it will matter most” — starting with the Florida Democratic Party.
“I want you to know that your support is going where you intended: to help elect Democrats everywhere and to put a check on Donald Trump’s power,” he wrote on X on Thursday night.
A $400,000 donation to the state party is intended to help his onetime primary opponent, state Rep. Angie Nixon, as well as other statewide and federal candidates running in tough races in Florida.
Vindman, who testified at Trump’s first impeachment hearing during his initial presidential term, leveraged that national fame to raise more than $16 million ahead of Tuesday’s election.
He lost the primary to Nixon, a three-term state lawmaker who had raised less than $1 million since entering the race last year.
Vindman’s campaign had $7.31 million cash on hand as of June 30, according to filings.
Federal law allows him to hold on to the money for a future federal election, use it to pay campaign debts, transfer it to the national or state Democratic Party, or donate some of it to other candidates running at the federal level.
Approximately 500,000 individual donations came “from people who want Democrats to win everywhere,” Vindman wrote Thursday. “It’s only right that the money continues go toward that.”
Democrats have not won statewide in Florida since 2018. Four of the state’s House seats were redrawn to boost Republicans under a redistricting plan pushed by outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), giving three House incumbents an uphill battle for reelection.
He said he would be making additional donations “over the course of the next few days and weeks” but did not specify where.
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