Alex Vindman, key Trump impeachment witness, enters Florida Senate race
I’m Alex Vindman and I’m running for the U.S. Senate. Chaos, corruption and sky-rocketing costs are crushing ordinary people, while the billionaires and career politicians profit.
— Alexander S. Vindman 🇺🇸 (@AVindman) January 27, 2026
I stepped up when my country needed a soldier, I reported corruption at the highest levels of… pic.twitter.com/AJhk13B6ZA
MIAMI, FLORIDA: Army veteran Alex Vindman, a central witness in President Donald Trump's first impeachment trial, announced on Tuesday, January 27, that he is running for the US Senate in Florida as a Democrat, launching a bid in a state that has increasingly tilted Republican.
Vindman leaned heavily on his role in Trump’s 2019 impeachment as he kicked off the campaign, featuring clips of his sworn testimony in his launch video.
“The last time you saw me was here, swearing an oath to tell the truth about a president who broke his,” Vindman says in the video.
“See, my family came here as refugees to escape tyranny, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to bow down to some wannabe tyrant,” he said.
Alex Vindman's testimony in Trump's impeachment inquiry
Vindman, a retired lieutenant colonel and Iraq War veteran, testified during the impeachment inquiry that, while serving on the National Security Council, he witnessed Trump pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden, his son, and the 2016 election during a call between the two leaders.
Born in Ukraine, Vindman later retired from the Army, alleging that Trump blocked his promotion.
He and his twin brother, Eugene Vindman, who won a Northern Virginia House seat in 2024, were removed from their NSC posts following Trump’s impeachment trial.
“This president unleashed a reign of terror and retribution not just against me and my family, but against all of us,” Vindman said as he launched his Senate campaign.
Democrats face an uphill battle in Florida
Vindman enters a race that poses steep challenges for Democrats.
Florida has moved sharply to the right in recent election cycles, and the party has not won a Senate race in the state since Bill Nelson’s re-election in 2012.
Trump carried Florida by 13 points in the 2024 presidential election, while Sen Marco Rubio won re-election in 2022 by 16 points, securing nearly 58% of the vote.
In his campaign video, Vindman painted a bleak picture of the country’s direction, saying, “Today, our country is in chaos. Thug m******s attacking citizens. Tariffs pushing prices sky-high. Health care premiums through the roof.”
The video included imagery related to recent fatal encounters involving federal agents in Minneapolis, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Alex Vindman targets GOP Sen Ashley Moody
Vindman is seeking to unseat Republican Sen Ashley Moody, the former Florida attorney general, who was appointed to the Senate after Rubio became Trump’s secretary of state. A special election in November will determine who serves the final two years of Rubio’s term.
“They put Moody in the Senate to be a ‘yes’ vote for Trump and the billionaires,” Vindman says in the video. “She’s not Florida’s senator. She’s theirs.”
Vindman will first have to navigate a competitive Democratic primary scheduled for August 18.
The field includes Jennifer Jenkins, who defeated a projected future leader of the conservative 'Moms for Liberty' group in a Brevard County school board race; Hector Mujica, a former official with Google’s philanthropy arm, and state Rep Angie Nixon.
The primary is expected to test whether Democrats can coalesce behind a candidate capable of mounting a serious statewide challenge in an increasingly Republican Florida.
