{"id":5708,"date":"2025-03-28T19:51:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T19:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=5708"},"modified":"2025-03-28T19:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T19:51:12","slug":"trump-weighs-in-on-house-special-election-races-in-florida-as-gop-fights-to-keep-majority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=5708","title":{"rendered":"Trump weighs in on House special election races in Florida as GOP fights to keep majority"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a pair of back-to-back rallies held over the phone on Thursday night, President Donald Trump praised the two Republican candidates in the upcoming special elections for Florida’s 6th and 1st Congressional districts, amid recent concerns among Republicans over whether their candidate in the 6th Congressional District, State Sen. Randy Fine, can keep the seat in Republican hands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fine has lagged behind his Democratic opponent, Josh Weil, in fundraising, and Republicans have expressed concerns about his campaign, although many still believe he will be able to hold the seat in the ruby-red district.<\/p>\n

The special election in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, which is on the state’s eastern coast and includes the city of Daytona Beach, is being held on Tuesday, April 1, to fill the vacancy created by former Rep. Mike Waltz when he resigned to become Trump’s national security adviser.<\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, March 26, 2025.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Evelyn Hockstein\/Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The tele-rallies also came amid broader concerns among Republicans about maintaining their razor-thin majority in the U.S. House, and on the same day<\/a> that Trump asked Rep. Elise Stefanik to withdraw her nomination to be United Nations ambassador, citing “a very tight Majority” in the U.S. House.<\/p>\n

House Republicans currently hold a narrow majority with 218 Republicans to 213 Democrats. Speaker Mike Johnson has a two-vote cushion for his majority.<\/p>\n

Fine, at the start of the telephone rally for him, emphatically praised Trump and said he would serve in Congress as one of the president’s strongest allies.<\/p>\n

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Florida State Rep. Randy Fine, answers a question about his House Bill 3-C: Independent Special Districts in the House of Representatives, April 20, 2022, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Phil Sears\/AP, Files<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Mr. President, I’m immensely grateful for your unwavering support, trust and confidence in me. I believe that God saved your life in Butler, Pennsylvania, so that you could save the world,” Fine said, referencing the July assassination attempt<\/a> Trump survived. “And it will be one of the most profound honors of my life to be one of your foot soldiers as you make America great again.”<\/p>\n

Trump praised Fine’s early endorsement of him<\/a> during the 2024 election cycle, adding, “that’s why Randy will always have a very open door to the Oval Office. He will be there whenever I need him, and he wants to be there whenever we need him. He wants to be there for you.”<\/p>\n

“I’ve gotten to know him under pressure situations, and he can react well under pressure. So go vote for Randy,” Trump said later.<\/p>\n

Fine reiterated he would work to carry out Trump’s agenda in Congress.<\/p>\n

“It’s not overstating things to say that your agenda is at stake in this election, and this district can’t let you down. Your agenda is on the ballot on April 1,” he said.<\/p>\n

During the earlier telephone rally supporting the Republican candidate in the 1st Congressional District, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Trump praised Patronis’ work in Florida and framed the special election as important for his own agenda.<\/p>\n

That special election, which will determine who takes the seat vacated by now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz, has gotten less concern from Republicans.<\/p>\n

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Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis speaks during a meeting between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state cabinet at the Florida capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., Mar. 5, 2025.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rebecca Blackwell\/AP, Files<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“The 1st Congressional District is special, and I won it by a lot, and Jimmy is going to win it by a lot. And remember, you’re five days away from this all important special election taking place in your district on Tuesday, April 1, so April Fool’s Day. So it’s going to be the fool for the Democrat candidate, who happens to be terrible,” Trump said of Patronis’ Democratic opponent Gay Valimont, a gun violence prevention activist.<\/p>\n

Praising Patronis, Trump said, “Jimmy’s done an outstanding job as the chief financial officer of the state of Florida, helping to guide your state to tremendous economic success. And now he wants to keep on fighting for Florida in Congress.”<\/p>\n

Patronis, speaking after Trump, told listeners, “Look, if you’re not fired up to hearing the president right now, then you need to get your pulse checked with President Trump and the White House. A Republican majority in Congress — we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform this country.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a pair of back-to-back rallies held over the phone on Thursday night, President Donald Trump praised the two Republican candidates in the upcoming special elections for Florida’s 6th and 1st Congressional districts, amid recent concerns among Republicans over whether their candidate in the 6th Congressional District, State Sen. Randy Fine, can keep the seat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5710,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5708\/revisions\/5710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}