Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis escalated his attacks against Randy Fine on Wednesday, blaming the representative-elect’s “unique problems” for a special election victory he said should have been won by a higher margin.
Appearing at a press conference in Ocala, Florida, the day after the election, DeSantis argued that President Donald Trump’s involvement in the 6th District race pushed Fine over the line. He added voters had not wanted to support Fine, who Trump had endorsed, and that the president “really had to bail him out in the end.”
“These are voters who didn’t like Randy Fine,” DeSantis said, “but who basically are like, ‘You know what? We’re going to take one for the team. The president needs another vote up there, and so we’re going to do it.’”
National Republicans had been nervous about the race between Fine and progressive Josh Weil, who raised nearly $14 million and was polling close in the election’s closing weeks. Trump mobilized GOP support and held a telephone town hall urging people to vote for him, in addition to several top MAGA surrogates hosting Fine for interviews.
In the end, Fine defeated his challenger by 14 points — roughly the same margin DeSantis had when he first ran for the seat in 2012 and the margin seen by former Rep. Mike Waltz when he first ran in 2018. Another Tuesday special election, in the 1st District, saw a similar margin for Republican Jimmy Patronis.
But Tuesday’s 6th District contest was still widely seen as an underperformance, including by DeSantis. The governor and Trump saw over 30-point victories in the district in 2022 and 2024, respectively, and the state has become more red since. DeSantis also said he didn’t begrudge Patronis because no outside groups had to come in to help during the closing days of his campaign. The governor made similar comments on Fox News Channel on Wednesday morning.
Asked whether he had a response, Fine shared a post on X, which included a video of the governor’s criticisms and the statement: “A dying star burns hottest before it fades into oblivion. I’m focused on working with @realDonaldTrump to stop Democrats from taking this country backwards, not working with them. Let’s go.”
Fine allies have complained that DeSantis shouldn’t play up his relationship to Trump — which appears to have mended since the 2024 presidential primary — while trashing people he endorses. A national GOP operative with ties to the Fine campaign, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the governor’s various press appearances bashing Fine had been unhelpful. While DeSantis sent an email to Young Republicans about the race, he otherwise “did nothing for Randy,” the person said.
“Casey and Ron were nowhere to be found,” the person said. “They got more earned media around their attacks than the Democrats did. They say all these nice things about the president, then do everything they can to cripple the president’s agenda.”
DeSantis and Fine had a falling out in 2023, after Fine flipped his endorsement for president from the governor to Trump. Fine skewered DeSantis in a Washington Times op-ed, accusing him of not doing enough to fight antisemitism in Florida in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
Fine then became one of the governor’s top archenemies in Tallahassee. He’s also known for clapping back aggressively with members and people who testify at hearings.
DeSantis had already been criticizing Fine in the closing days of the race, but his comments Wednesday marked his sharpest remarks yet. He called Fine a “squish,” pointing to how Fine voted in favor of a gun safety bill following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and raising the fact Fine had been at the forefront of a bill on illegal immigration in Florida that the governor thought wasn’t strong enough.
“Our base voters don’t get excited about that,” he said, “you’re not giving them a reason to go out and vote.”
Before the feud, DeSantis had considered Fine for the job of president at Florida Atlantic University. He later cited Fine’s disappointment about not getting the job as the reason for him flipping his endorsement — something Fine denied. DeSantis raised the incident during his press conference Wednesday.
“Just the way he conducts himself is somebody — he repels people,” DeSantis said. “He’s repelled people in the legislature. They wanted to get him out of the legislature, so they asked me to put him up for Florida Atlantic president, and I did, and the whole board would have resigned rather than making presidents, and now he’s going to be in Congress.”
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