Donald Trump and Randy Fine pose together in 2024. (Courtesy Randy Fine) Courtesy of Randy Fine

(JTA) — Randy Fine, a Jewish Florida state senator whose bruising demeanor has made him a new favorite on the right, easily won the Republican primary for an open House seat.

An Associated Press estimate showed that Fine took more than 80% of the GOP vote on Tuesday. The district is deep red, making his victory in the April 1 special election all but assured. He would replace Michael Waltz, who left Congress to become Trump’s national security advisor.

Fine decided to run in the district, even though he does not currently live there, after receiving an enthusiastic endorsement from President Donald Trump. He did not immediately return a Jewish Telegraphic Agency request for comment on his victory. But on social media, he made clear the spiritual reason why he ran. The northeast Florida district has few Jews but many conservative Christians.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“G-d saved @realDonaldTrump’s life so he could save the world,” the state senator wrote on X. “And tonight, both of them, powered by my amazing family and all of you who voted for me, put me one step closer to being able to help him do that. I swear I won’t let any of you down.”

Fine has used his Jewish and ardent pro-Israel background to court controversy. Soon after announcing his candidacy, he tweeted “#BombsAway” at pro-Palestinian Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, which Muslim-rights groups and the Anti-Defamation League condemned as a threat. (Fine denied he meant the remark as a threat.) In his home state he has called progressive Jewish critics “Judenrat,” a term denoting Jewish councils who helped the Nazis.

He has also clashed with the LGBTQ community and with local judges, and was formerly a close ally of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis until Fine became frustrated with DeSantis’s handling of antisemitism and Israel issues.

Many Jews have embraced him, and he received endorsements from the Republican Jewish Coalition and the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, whom he thanked on X after his victory with the message “Supporting Israel IS America first.”

Fine also has a legislative track record of fighting antisemitism, having passed laws in his home state to help law enforcement prosecute white nationalists. He recently prompted a textbook review for antisemitism and anti-Israel bias across Florida’s public university system.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount