Newly-elected Florida Congressman Randy Fine was forced to watch brutal insults from Governor Ron DeSantis, who said the Donald Trump ally ‘repels people.’

Fine won Florida’s 6th Congressional District in a special election on Tuesday over well funded Democrat Josh Weil. 

The spot was vacated after President Donald Trump tapped National Security Adviser Mike Waltz for his Cabinet earlier this year.

Fine was given a rough welcome by the Washington liberal media, as CNN host Kaitlan Collins showed him DeSantis insulting him just a day after the election.  

‘I think you have a candidate in Randy Fine who won. He’s a squish, ok? He repels people,’ DeSantis said. 

DeSantis was discussing how Fine massively underperformed Waltz’s 33-point victory last November, beating Weil by just 14 points on Tuesday. 

The governor argued that Fine had almost nothing to do with his victory and was dragged over the line by the president. 

‘I think the election day turnout was really good for a special election for Republicans in the district. And I attribute that to President Trump’s intervention.’ 

DeSantis, who has had a distant relationship from the president since challenging him in the Republican Primary last year, said there were ‘voters who didn’t like Randy Fine’ but willing to ‘take one for the team.’ 

‘I would not read into the underperformance that this is somehow a referendum on MAGA or Trump. I think it was a unique issue with this particular candidate.’

Once the clip stopped, Collins quipped: ‘I’m gonna’ guess you two aren’t very close.’

Fine admitted that they weren’t but said his distaste for the Congressman was based on that very primary, when Fine endorsed Trump over him. 

‘Ron Desantis is repelled by me. I think that much is shown. But look, Ron has never forgiven me for endorsing President Trump in 2023. I was the first legislator to switch from him to President Trump. And I’m the only Jewish Republican in the Florida legislature. It was a big deal.’ 

He called DeSantis’ remarks ‘disappointing’ but attempted to take the high road with Collins. 

‘But I’m not interested in trying to set petty political scores. My focus is how I run up the score for my district. He’s looking in the past, I’m looking to the future.’

Fine’s victory is especially positive for the MAGA movement after the race there seemed to tighten ahead of Election Day, concerning some Republicans.

Republicans have received criticism for the race heating up toward the special election as Democratic fundraising surged. 

Trump won Florida’s 6th Congressional District by a whopping 30 points in November.

Fine, 50, a state senator and former gambling executive with stints in Las Vegas and Detroit, overcame Democrat Josh Weil, 40, a single father and public school teacher. 

Fine also had some concerns about his campaign to replace Waltz, who recently admitted he’s responsible for the White House’s largest scandal yet after he accidentally included a journalist in a group chat on the messaging app Signal to discuss military airstrikes in the Middle East.

The former congressman and current national security adviser to Trump has been under extreme scrutiny as some on the left have called for him to be fired; the president so far has waved off those concerns. 

Still, the race to fill the seat was much harder than anyone anticipated. Fine received around 56 percent of the vote to Weil’s 42 percent, with most of the votes counted. 

The special elections stabilize the Republican Party’s thin majority in the House of Representatives at 220 to 213. 

Two seats remain unfilled in Democrat-leaning districts won by large majorities in 2024 after their occupants died in office.

Arizona will hold a race to fill the late Raul Grijava’s seat in September, while Texas’ 18th District most replace the deceased Sylvester Turner at some point this year. 

The small majority and the underperformances in Florida polls led Trump to withdraw Elise Stefanik’s nomination for ambassador to the United Nations, worried they could lose another solidly Republican seat.