Devan Barber is a Democratic campaign strategist and executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2026 election cycle. She was a senior advisor to the committee in the 2022 and 2024 cycles, its political director in 2018 and its research director in 2016. Barber managed the North Carolina U.S. Senate race in 2020 and worked on Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. She studied at William & Mary.
Case
Angie Nixon, Florida's Democratic Senate nominee, says national Democrats are reluctant to fund her because of her politics and her race and gender. The DSCC says it monitors all races and that more investment needs more resources. FEC filings are incomplete.
Role at the time: Executive director of the DSCC, in a statement quoted in a Forbes column
Response to this claim
The DSCC said it monitors all races closely, including Florida, and that additional investments require additional resources because Republicans are outspending Democratic candidates, and, as Forbes reported on September 28, 2026, pointed to its $40 million Win The Senate program, a joint fundraising committee with Nixon's campaign, maximum leadership PAC contributions from Schumer and Gillibrand, and Nixon's participation in DSCC donor events as support for her campaign.
“Republicans are currently flooding core battleground states with money and outspending our candidates dramatically, so while we are excited about opportunities to expand the map further and monitor all races closely, additional investments require additional resources”
The statement does not mention Nixon's ideology or identity. It answers the broader criticism by tying the limit on further investment to resources and to Republican spending in core battleground states, which offers a reason other than the one Nixon gave. It also disputes the premise that the committee has not expanded the map, so we labeled it Challenges the characterization. It does not say how much is committed to Florida.
Statement dates: September 28, 2026
Statement dates: September 28, 2026
Statement dates: September 28, 2026
