Trump impeachment whistleblower Vindman raises $1.7M in first day of Florida Senate campaign

MIAMI — Alexander Vindman, the former National Security Council aide who helped trigger President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, has raised $1.7 million in the first day of his Democratic bid for Senate in Florida, according to his campaign.

The figure, shared first with POLITICO, is the highest amount reported in a day raised by any other Senate candidate in Florida history, the campaign said, adding that it received more than 36,000 contributions total — with 99 percent of online donations totaling $100 or less.

Vindman is vying to replace GOP Sen. Ashley Moody, a former state attorney general who Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to the Senate when Marco Rubio became Trump’s secretary of State. While several other Democrats are in the race, his name is prominent nationally because he was a NSC aide during Trump’s first term and testified before Congress about Trump’s 2019 call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Vindman, an Army combat veteran and lieutenant colonel, said of the fundraising total that he was “grateful” for the support and declared the “historic first-day showing makes clear that Floridians are ready to end the chaos and corruption and fire elite politicians like Ashley Moody who have rigged the system for themselves.”

Moody’s latest fundraising total won’t be posted on the Federal Election Commission website until Jan. 31, but records through the first three quarters of 2025 show she raised nearly $1.9 million and transferred $2.1 million from other authorized committees. Florida has notoriously been an expensive state to campaign in because it has 10 media markets and a huge population, though national Democrats have invested far less in Sunshine State elections in recent cycles as it became increasingly Republican.

Despite the large donation total and Florida Democratic overperformances in 2025, the state is still a tough place for a Democrat to run in across all 67 counties. Republicans outregister Democrats by 1.4 million people, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report describes the Florida Senate seat as “Solid R” category.

Moody has already received Trump’s endorsement and is battle-tested, having won her state races for attorney general twice — both times by higher margins than DeSantis’ gubernatorial wins. She has no major challenger on the Republican side.

Fundraising is also only part of the formula necessary to notch a win. Former Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell raised $1 million during the first 48 hours of her ultimately unsuccessful 2024 Senate bid against GOP Sen. Rick Scott. And former Democratic Rep. Val Demings was one of the highest Senate fundraisers of the 2022 cycle — but lost to Rubio by more than 16 points.

The Republican National Committee has panned Vindman as a “carpetbagger and a grifter” whose campaign is “doomed from the start.”

“Ashley Moody will continue to be a champion for the America First agenda, delivering the largest middle-class tax cut in history, securing our border, keeping communities safe, and putting more money back in the pockets of Florida families,” said RNC spokesperson Emma Hill.