David Dean talks with WSLR’s Ramon Lopez about recent wins and coming challenges.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: August 25, 2026
Host: David Dean, chair of the Sarasota Democratic Party, shared some of his reactions to the primary elections and his expectations. Ramon Lopez reports.
Ramon Lopez: The 2026 Florida primary election cleared the air on which Democrats will advance to the November 3 general election. And there were some surprises.
David Dean
In a major upset, progressive state lawmaker Angie Nixon easily defeated retired Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman. He is known for his role in Trump’s 2019 impeachment trial. Now Nixon will face Sen. Ashley Moody.
Locally, retired cop Jim DeNiro defeated incumbent Joe Neunder for the District 4 Sarasota County Commission seat. Next up for DeNiro will be a November 3 contest against dark-horse Democrat Julie London, who had no challenger in the primary.
And in the Democrat primary race for Congressional District 17, Matthew Montavon prevailed. He will now face the GOP’s Greg Steube in November. US Rep. Steube ran unopposed.
And it will be Dem Kelly Kirschner versus Republican Sydney Gruters to replace retiring US Rep. Vern Buchanan.
David Dean had a lot to say about the local and statewide wins by Democrat candidates. Here are excerpts of comments from the Sarasota Democratic Party chair.
David Dean and District 4 Sarasota County Commission candidate Julie London Ferguson
First off, he handicaps the London and Montavon races.
DD: They’re both challenging races as far as the voter population goes. The congressional district as a whole will be favorable to Republicans, and it’s against an incumbent with a lot of money. I think a good showing would be to see how many voters we could win over. Whether we can win enough over remains to be seen. We’ve been reaching out to some party affiliates that look to be favorable to us. Matt is in it to win. He says he’s confident to win.
RL: What about Angie Nixon?
David Dean looking through his telescope | Photo: by Gretchen Cochran.
DD: A lot of people were surprised that Angie won. She’s very popular amongst the young voters, and that’s going to draw people to the polls in November.
RL: And Kelly Kirschner?
DD: He’s very popular and well-known in Sarasota, and we’ll certainly do our best to support him. He hit the ground with a very organized campaign, really professional website, media presence—he knows what he’s doing.
RL: On the campaign trail, Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
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