Randy Fine speaks at the Florida Capitol in 2022 | AP Photo/Phil Sears
Published on April 1, 2025 at 8:28 pm
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Republican Randy Fine is headed to Washington, D.C., to represent Florida’s 6th Congressional District. The district includes parts of six counties, including St. Johns, Flagler and Putnam.
A staunch supporter of President Donald Trump and a firebrand who has courted controversy for bills he has filed as a state senator in Florida, Fine will finish the two-year term of Republican Michael Waltz, who stepped down this year to serve as Trump’s national security advisor.
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Fine, who lives in Brevard County, has been a lawmaker in Florida for nearly 10 years, starting with an election to the state House of Representatives in 2016. He was elected to the state Senate last year after he hit his term limit in the House and then resigned to run for the seat in Congress.
Fine does not live in the district he will represent, but members of Congress are only required to live in the state they represent, not the specific district.
Fine did not immediately respond to a phone call from Jacksonville Today after his victory.
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Districtwide, Fine received approximately 58% of the vote to Democrat Josh Weil’s 42%, despite Weil’s campaign’s having raised nearly 10 times what Fine’s raised.
The Fine-Weil contest drew national attention in recent weeks, amid Republicans’ razor-thin House majority, as Gov. Ron DeSantis cast doubt on Fine’s margin of victory and Weil’s campaign war chest ballooned.
Fine picked up an early endorsement from Trump, while Weil, who was endorsed by former presidential candidate and current Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has led a star-studded campaign around the district, campaigning with stars like singer Patti LaBelle and rapper and activist Killer Mike.
In the Florida Panhandle, another special election Tuesday also ended in Republicans’ favor with the election of Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s former chief financial officer, to another U.S. House seat there.
And while Democrats’ efforts did not lead to a victory in either Tuesday night special election in Florida, the state’s Democratic Party celebrated the result. For example, in St. Johns County, where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats more than 2-to-1, Fine outperformed Weil by just an 11% margin.
In a Tuesday night statement, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said the numbers “put the Republican Party on notice.”
“Though we came up short in these reliably red districts, a double digit swing tonight serves as a warning to Republicans in Congress,” Fried said. “There are no ‘safe’ seats in Florida in 2026. Any Republican in a Trump +15 seat or closer should be scared about their re-election chances.”
Updated: This story was updated on 4/2/2025 to add the reaction from the Florida Democratic Party chair.
