WASHINGTON – Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key figure in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, is launching a long-shot bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in Florida.

“Today, our country is in chaos,” Vindman said in a video announcing his campaign on Tuesday. “Militia of thugs attack citizens. Tariffs drive prices through the roof. Health care premiums skyrocket. And Florida homeowners are absolutely screwed because Ashley Moody caved to the big insurance companies.”

Vindman served as director of European affairs at the National Security Council during Trump’s first term and was also a key witness. during his 2019 impeachment process. The military veteran and Purple Heart recipient testified how Trump threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine unless his government opened an investigation into his then-Democratic political opponent Joe Biden before the 2020 presidential election. As a result of his testimony, Vindman was removed from office and his promotion to the rank of colonel eventually stalled, leading to his retirement from the military.

In this Nov. 19, 2019, file photo, National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is sworn in to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington during a public impeachment hearing into President Donald Trump's efforts to link U.S. aid to Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents. Vindman was escorted out of the White House complex on February 7, 2020, according to his attorney.
In this Nov. 19, 2019, file photo, National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is sworn in to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington during a public impeachment hearing into President Donald Trump’s efforts to link U.S. aid to Ukraine to investigations of his political opponents. Vindman was escorted out of the White House complex on February 7, 2020, according to his attorney.

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“My family came here as refugees to escape tyranny, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to bow down to some would-be tyrant,” Vindman, who was born in Soviet Ukraine but now resides in Florida, said in the video. “This president unleashed a reign of terror and retaliation, not only against me and my family, but against all of us.”

Vindman’s twin brother, Eugene, serves as the Democratic representative for Virginia’s 7th congressional district.

Democrats face an uphill battle in Florida, a state that has become increasingly red in recent elections. Moody, a former state attorney general, was appointed to the Senate in January by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace former Sen. Marco Rubio after Rubio became Trump’s secretary of state. He has been a loyal MAGA foot soldier in the Senate and has Trump’s backing in the special election to fill the remainder of Rubio’s term.

Senate Democrats also do not consider Florida a key state in which to plan to retake control of the chamber next year. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, recently partnered with Moody to introduce legislation that would ban stock trading in Congress.

Trump’s rising public approval ratings, as well as the growing national backlash to his policies on the economy and immigration, could at least put pressure on national Republicans to spend valuable time and money on a seat that is expected to remain in the GOP column.

Vindman joins a large field already vying for the Democratic Senate nomination in Florida, including progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon and Jennifer Jenkins, a former school board member.

In his announcement video Monday, Vindman took aim at Moody’s stock trading and his record in Congress.

“They put Moody in the Senate to vote ‘yes’ for Trump and the billionaires,” he said. “She’s not Florida’s senator. She’s theirs.”

“Billionaires and special interests will do everything they have to try to stop us,” he added. “But in the infantry, we don’t back down from the fight. In a democracy, you decide who will defend you: the patriot or the politician. Join us.”