Worse Than Florida's Extreme Weather, Unaffordable Housing, Alligators & Mosquitoes— The Politics
- Howie Klein
- 35 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The Pythons And Corruption Would Make Anyone Want To Run Away
Florida’s 6th congressional district south of Jacksonville and down just past Daytona Beach is gerrymandered to elect conservative Republicans. And it does. The PVI is R+14 and Trump won the district against Kamala with 64.7%, a fat 30.1 point margin. In a special election this past April, Republican congressional candidate Randy Fine, an extreme right state senator, didn’t do quite as well, beating progressive Democrat Josh Weil 56.7 to 42.7%, 14 points, less than half Trump’s margin… and only after the GOP called in all their big guns, including Trump and Musk, and poured millions of dollars into the race. And in the most populous county in the district, Volusia, Fine only managed to edge Weil 31,890 (50.6%) to 30,718 (48.7%). In 2024 Trump had won Volusia County with 60.2%.
Now we’re hearing a buzz that Weil is being urged to run by Florida Democrats in the special U.S. Senate race against DeSantis’ appointed incumbent, Ashley Moody— although Moody is facing potential primary problems from the extreme right, not from Finbe but either from Matt Gaetz or Cory Mills. And the extreme right in Florida has been a formidable force, certainly more so in recent years than the pathetically moribund state Democratic Party that Weil is trying to work towards resuscitating.
To give you an idea of just how formidable a force that Florida Republican Party’s extreme fringe is, let’s go back to Randy Fine for a moment, the kook who beat Weil. On Fox News last week, during a discussion of Gaza (population 2.1 million, squeezed into 141 square miles) he said “This is what globalizing the intifada looks like. Palestinianism is built on violence… This is a culture built on violence and we need to start treating it that way. We need to start to call evil for what it is, and not make excuses for it. And the fact of the matter is, the Palestinian cause is an evil one… The only end of the conflict is complete and total surrender by those who support Muslim terror. In World War II, we did not negotiate a surrender with the Nazis. We did not negotiate a surrender with the Japanese. We nuked the Japanese twice in order to get unconditional surrender. That needs to be the same here.” And no Republicans have called on him to resign— or even apologize.
This wasn’t from the Florida Republican Party of from the Republican governor of Florida (who personally detests Fine)— let alone from the Republican Speaker of the House or the Republican President:
“Let’s be clear: Randy Fine is not just a dangerous bigot. He is a sitting member of Congress openly fantasizing about the nuclear genocidal extermination of Palestinians. Fine’s statements are more aligned with the genocidal maniacs of the Israeli Knesset than with any vision of American leadership, with the exception of Brian Mast. Fine’s deranged rhetoric is not only morally reprehensible but also deeply damaging to the Trump administration’s stated efforts to establish a ceasefire and pursue peace in the region. He’s not a so-called Make America Great Again Republican, he’s a Make Israel Great Republican, no matter how many civilians have to be murdered to prove it. Congress must now decide whether it will uphold its ethical responsibilities or stand by while one of its own openly calls for mass murder of Palestinians. Silence in the face of genocide is complicity. There must be consequences.”
Nope, that came from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization. They also noted that Fine’s record includes:
Saying “Gaza must be destroyed.”
Calling a fellow member of Congress a “Muslim terrorist.”
Telling Palestinians to “eat rockets” and posting hashtags like #BombsAway and #StarveAway.
Mocking a dead Palestinian child with “Quite well, actually! Thanks for the pic!”
Telling a Muslim constituent to “go blow yourself up.”
Referring to a Palestinian keffiyeh as a “terrorist rag” during a public hearing.
Threatening to weaponize anti-protest and anti-boycott laws to silence dissent.
Florida Republicans: crickets… although, for that matter, national Republicans: also crickets, which may, but shouldn’t, even surprise some of the 22% of Michigan Muslims who helped Trump win their state’s 15 electoral votes last year.
Weil won’t be running against Fine in the 2026 Senate race… but he will be running against someone who won’t condemn Fine’s remarks or the sentiments behind them, that’s for sure. From what I’m hearing, Weil will be declaring his candidacy in about a month.
