WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Ashley Moody won election Tuesday to the U.S. Senate representing Florida, defeating Democrat Angie Nixon.

Moody first took the seat when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped her to succeed Marco Rubio when he became U.S. secretary of state in 2025.

A former state attorney general, Moody will serve the last two years of the term Rubio won in 2022.

Nixon, a state lawmaker, is a democratic socialist who tested the strength of Democrats’ left flank in a state where the party has not won a U.S. Senate seat since 2012.

Nixon upset establishment Democrats’ more moderate favorite in the primary. Her general election loss is unlikely to help heal the struggling state party’s internal rift.

The Associated Press declared Moody the winner at 8:34 p.m. EST.

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