Ms. Ocasio-Cortez encouraged more than 50 campaign volunteers and organizers gathered at a park in Kissimmee, south of Orlando, to devote their time and energy to spreading the word about Ms. Nixon’s campaign — weeks before a single ballot is mailed out.
“They don’t see us coming,” she told them. “My favorite way to move is, we don’t go to the flashy places. This isn’t about fighting for Miami.”
“We run up the numbers here,” she added, “and then we will rack them up everywhere else, too.”
When Florida was still a pre-eminent battleground state not long ago, much of its Democratic energy originated in South Florida. But as that region has grown more Republican, the heart of the state’s progressive movement has moved to Orlando and its fast-growing suburbs.
The strategy lifted Ms. Nixon in the Democratic primary last month, when she shocked the party establishment and won by 12 percentage points on a campaign built mainly around field work and social media, despite being vastly out-raised.
