A lifelong Republican had a confession to make in the Winter Park house’s living room as a small crowd gathered to meet Alex Vindman.

Alison Yurko, a land-use attorney who calls herself a “law and order Republican,” was still angry from when former Attorney-General Ashley Moody supported a last-ditch effort to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election results.

“That might work on the Internet but lawyers aren’t supposed to do that,” Yurko said. “She should be disbarred from that.”

Yurko wrote a check to the Democrat’s U.S. Senatorial campaign after she said she was impressed by what she heard: Vindman’s sense of duty and his military career.

Vindman is taking on Moody, the Republican appointed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the U.S. Senate to fill Marco Rubio’s vacancy. 

Moody is leading, according to one new poll, while Republicans also hold a big voter registration advantage over Democrats.

For Vindman to win, he needs people like Yurko in places like Central Florida.

Vindman called the Interstate 4 corridor from Orlando to Tampa and St. Petersburg a “lynchpin” for him to win the U.S. Senate. To court those voters, Vindman’s campaign trail held two meet and greets stops Friday ahead of a speech at the Democratic Women’s Club of Florida’s annual conference in Orlando. He plans to keep returning, he said.

Vindman said he is confident he can beat Moody with the help of disgruntled Republicans and independent-minded voters like Yurko.

“We’re in a unique environment. Day one, we raised $1.7 million from 35,000 contributions — that’s a record,” Vindman told the small group in Winter Park. “Thirteen percent of my contributions came from registered Republicans.”

He urged the crowd to support him and bring their friends. Floridians — Republicans and Democrats alike — are struggling with high insurance costs and affordability at a time when voters are hungry for change, Vindman said.

“Look for those Trump signs that are coming down. That’s a cry for help,” Vindman told them. ““When I say we’re going from ruby red to deep blue, I mean it.”

Vindman is trying to make his case that Moody is a “career politician” who got rewarded with a Senate job she didn’t deserve after she failed to hold insurance companies accountable as Florida Attorney General. 

“The contrast between myself and my opponent couldn’t be starker — a career Army officer that’s delivered for this country versus a career corrupt politician in the pockets of special interest,” Vindman said.

The baby-faced 50-year-old Vindman was dressed in a gray suit, no tie, and spotless navy blue sneakers as he stood in the elegant living room overlooking Lake Maitland. Listening was a civic-minded group of about 50 people that included local leaders from League of Women Voters, retired Orlando Sentinel editor Bob Shaw, and Orange County Democratic interim Chair Jarred Cornell. 

“I’d like to offer the choice. Should we start with how we’re going to win or a little bit more about myself?” Vindman asked them. “OK, we’ll go chronically.”

Vindman began his origin story.

As Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union, his family immigrated to the country in 1979. Back then it just his father raising Vindman and his twin plus their other brother in a new country since Vindman’s mother died from cancer a few months earlier.

They settled into a one-bedroom apartment in New York while Vindman’s father hauled furniture to make a living and learned the new language by writing thousands of words he picked up on index cards. Eventually Vindman’s father got a union civil engineer job with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

“That was actually the start to our American dream story,” Vindman said. 

Eventually, Vindman’s father remarried and the family expanded to include a stepmother and stepbrother. 

“All four of us served the uniform at one point or another,” Vindman quipped about the four siblings. “Three of us, we’re in the Army and then we had a black sheep stepbrother that decided to join the Marines.”

Vindman deployed to Iraq and was injured by a roadside bomb in 2004.

“I know that war is more than just about dollars and cents,” Vindman said as he pivoted to criticize Moody’s support of President Donald Trump’s war against Iran.

Vindman eventually became a diplomat serving in posts at the embassies in Kyiv, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia. He emerged as a respected voice in international relations and Russian strategy, serving as a national security expert advising both Democratic and Republican Presidents.

“How do we contend with Russia? It’s one of these really daunting challenges,” Vindman said Friday.

He was invited to the White House to serve on the National Security Council which is how most Americans became acquainted with Vindman in the headlines as the whistleblower that sparked Trump’s first impeachment.

Vindman testified he listened to a phone call when President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch an investigation of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

Vindman’s retelling of history earned a round of cheers from the Winter Park group.

“On my watch, I witnessed the President abuse power,” Vindman said Friday. “In 19 years into military service, that didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t have to sit on my hands, and I reported it. That triggered the first impeachment of Donald Trump.”

From there, Vindman’s life spun a different direction as he testified in front of Congress against Trump and was later forced out of his 22-year military career.

The retired United States Army lieutenant colonel finished his doctorate degree and then began working to help veterans get elected into public office

Vindman gave a few nuggets of his personal life as he spoke. He and his wife are the parents to a 15-year-old girl and they spent 10-days traveling in a RV to explore the national parks.

“Somewhere along the way, my wife was itching to get out of D.C. and politics — let that sink in for a second,” Vindman said, prompting a few chuckles from the Winter Park crowd. “So we moved to Florida.”

Vindman’s best friend married a Fort Lauderdale woman, so South Florida always felt like home, he said. The family moved to the Sunshine State as did Vindman’s 94-year-old dad and stepmother.

Republicans seized on Vindman’s recent address change to attack him for being a “carpetbagger.” Moody, on the other hand, is a fifth-generation Floridian. 

“Come at me, bro,” Vindman told Florida Politics during an interview Friday when asked to respond to GOP criticisms. 

Vindman called himself “a proud Floridian” who has “joined the two-thirds of Floridians that are transplants from other parts of the country looking to build a life here.” 

It wasn’t just Yurko, the Republican, who was energized by Vindman.

So was local resident Lisa Chandler who previously volunteered handwriting thousands of postcards to help elect progressive Democrats U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost and State Rep. Anna Eskamani.

Chandler said she was impressed by Vindman’s story.

“I believe he’s an honorable man,” Chandler said. “This guy is a good guy.”

One of her issues is stopping the federal government’s overreach on immigration, Chandler said.  She is outraged that Cleon Williams, better known as “Uncle Lou” in Orlando’s indie music scene, is being detained on an immigration hold. His supporters raised nearly $50,000 to help his legal bills.

When asked about immigration by the group, Vindman called for reforming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) but not disbanding the agency completely. He also pitched a voluntary national public service program to forgive student loans, lead to homeownership or citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He spoke in support of protecting the environment.

Two words he didn’t mention Friday: Angie Nixon, the state representative and his Democratic Primary opponent.

As Vindman was campaigning in the greater Orlando area, Nixon was getting arrested for staging a sit-in in DeSantis’ office.

“I am absolutely laser-focused and singular in going after my real opponent which is Ashley Moody,” Vindman told Florida Politics when asked about Nixon.

How does Vindman get Nixon’s supporters on board his campaign if he wins the Democratic Primary?

“’I’m going to go to the harder question: How do I get Ashley Moody supporters?” Vindman countered.

The post Alex Vindman is seeking bipartisan support in battle with Ashley Moody appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..