TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Two Florida Republicans are poised to help the GOP strengthen its razor-thin majority this spring in the U.S. House.
Republican voters in several Florida counties head to the polls on Tuesday, where they will select GOP nominees to fill seats that were held by former Reps. Michael Waltz and Matt Gaetz. The primary victors will be considered heavy favorites to win the April 1 general election in these GOP-friendly districts.
And the GOP help from the Sunshine State cannot get to Washington soon enough for Republicans. The House’s tight majority can use every Republican seat it can get as it tries to enact Trump’s agenda through with the GOP trifecta in D.C.
President Donald Trump has endorsed Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and state Sen. Randy Fine for the two congressional seats — a move expected to help them easily win the primary even though neither Republican lives in the districts at present. Both have also significantly outraised their primary opponents.
“I’m not sure an endorsement has been more powerful in American history than the Trump endorsement,” said Fine.
Fine, a Brevard County Republican who at one point was the lone Jewish GOP member in the state Legislature, is one of six candidates in the 6th District race that includes two Democrats as well as Randy Terry, a well-known anti-abortion activist who is running with no party affiliation.
The seat he is seeking includes a section of northeast Florida that had been represented by Waltz since 2018. Waltz stepped down to become Trump’s national security adviser.
Fine has amassed a reliably Republican and conservative voting record while in the Legislature, but he has clashed with Gov. Ron DeSantis, especially after he flipped his presidential endorsement from DeSantis to Trump in late 2023. The move angered members of DeSantis’ inner circle, particularly following Fine’s public criticism that the governor wasn’t doing enough to battle antisemitism.
He still picked up widespread support from other Republicans, including Sen. Rick Scott who held a fundraiser for him.
The race to succeed Gaetz is much more crowded, even though several candidates dropped out once Patronis entered the contest for Florida’s 1st District and got Trump’s endorsement. There are 10 candidates in the GOP primary, including a former state legislator from the area and a former county commissioner, as well as a former Navy veteran who challenged Gaetz last year with the backing of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Patronis, whose family runs a well-known restaurant in Panama City, has been elected twice as the state’s chief financial officer and once was seen as a potential candidate for governor in 2026. But Gaetz resigned from Congress in November after Trump tapped him to become attorney general. He later withdrew his name from consideration amid a looming House ethics report into allegations that he had sex with a minor, among other claims. (Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.)
Patronis has the edge, but he still has come under fire for not living in the Northwest Florida district and the way he charged into the race. Candidates who were looking to get into the race or remained in the contest say they were pressured to drop out or stay quiet with their criticisms.
Jeff Macey, a software engineer who joined the contest, was accosted by a former county commissioner and top supporter of Patronis immediately following a candidate forum. Macey recorded the encounter, in which Graham Fountain suggested Macey could be subject to criminal and civil penalties for mentioning that Patronis once released a sexual harassment complaint filed against the state’s top banking regulator. The action triggered a criminal probe, although Patronis was not charged.
“You better have some good lawyers,” Fountain said to Macey, an incident that Macey caught on camera.
The Patronis campaign declined to comment about the incident.
Patronis also caught flak when he tried to defend the fact that he didn’t live in the district by saying that the Republican-led Legislature had created “gerrymandered lines” — which is not allowed under the state constitution. Former state Rep. Joel Rudman, one of his primary rivals, blasted Patronis for the comment and said he should not be “blaming” others for not living in the district.
During his campaign, Patronis has emphasized the support from Trump and used footage from the attempted assassination attempt on Trump in one of his ads. He is likely to be a reliable supporter of the president.
The chief financial officer, however, stayed on the sidelines when DeSantis challenged Trump in the Republican presidential primary. He didn’t endorse Trump until DeSantis exited the race early last year. But Patronis also called for using state taxpayer money to help pay Trump’s legal bills before DeSantis publicly said he would veto the proposal and the measure was withdrawn. DeSantis has not endorsed in the primary race.
Patronis was going to have to leave office in two years due to term limits but a run for governor could have been difficult given wide dissatisfaction in Florida over rising property insurance rates. Patronis is one of the top state officials who oversees state insurance regulators.
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