After Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress by wide margins, Florida Republican Rep. Randy Fine said his party had badly misjudged what voters wanted. Fine increased his own winning margin by five points, even as Republicans faced major losses nationwide.
Republicans held their ground in Florida, winning the governor’s race and Senate contest and preserving their 20–8 advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation. Fine said he couldn’t explain the difference between Florida’s results and the national outcome, but pointed to what he believed had worked in his own campaign.
Fine said he won a special election by 14 points despite $14 million being spent against him, then secured a 19-point victory in the latest election. He argued that voters in his district wanted a representative who spoke plainly and fought for them on issues ranging from immigration to local services and funding.
He also said Floridians may have been reluctant to risk changing a state they believe is doing well. Fine credited the state’s Republican candidates, including gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds and Senate candidate Ashley Moody, with helping the party hold its position.
Fine declined to blame any one Republican leader for the national losses. “We’re a team and the team lost,” he said, adding that he also shared responsibility. In his view, Republicans failed to show voters that they cared about their concerns. The party may have had the right intentions, he said, but did not communicate them effectively.
With Democrats controlling both chambers, Fine expects Republicans to spend the next two years responding to their opponents’ agenda rather than advancing their own. He described the coming period as an “ugly two years” and said Republicans would need to make the case that Democratic proposals could harm the country.
Fine singled out immigration as the issue he believes poses the greatest risk. He predicted Democrats would loosen border restrictions, pursue broad amnesty and reduce expectations that newcomers assimilate. Those are Fine’s characterizations of the Democrats’ likely plans; he said opposing them would be a central focus for Republicans.
Comparing Florida with Texas, Fine argued that Florida’s candidates were stronger and that Texas Republicans had not responded adequately to immigration and cultural changes. He said Texas had seen a large increase in illegal immigration and claimed its leaders had done less than Florida’s to counter what he called the “Islamification” of the state. Fine also suggested demographic shifts had affected the results.
Fine said the election of Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed to the Senate was especially upsetting to him. He accused El-Sayed of supporting terrorism and the Muslim Brotherhood, and said he viewed him as a threat to the country. Fine offered no evidence for those accusations in his remarks. He said the result was difficult to absorb after his own decisive win, particularly as other Republicans had lost.
Asked who should become House minority leader, Fine declined to choose between Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan. He said he had not spoken with either of them and would take part in those discussions when they came. Fine added that Mike Johnson had ruled himself out.
