Randall Fine

Randall Adam Fine (born April 20, 1974) is an American politician and former gambling executive serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 6th congressional district since April 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Florida Senate from 2024 to 2025 and in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 to 2024. His congressional district covers a six-county area that includes Daytona Beach.

Born in Arizona and raised in Kentucky, Fine graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in government and earned a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree from Harvard Business School. After working for McKinsey & Company and later as a teaching fellow at Harvard, Fine became a corporate executive working in the casino gambling industry. In 2016, Fine was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in his first of four consecutive elections, and he served during the last two years of Governor Rick Scott's tenure and the first six years of the DeSantis administration. In 2024, Fine was elected to the Florida Senate from the 19th district, representing most of Brevard County.

Following Mike Waltz's resignation from Congress to become U.S. national security advisor, Fine declared his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2025 special election, where he defeated Democratic nominee Josh Weil by a margin of roughly 14%. On April 2, 2025, Fine was sworn into office by House speaker Mike Johnson.

Early life and education

Fine was born in a Jewish family in Tucson, Arizona. Fine's father, H. Alan Fine, a graduate of MIT, was a professor of engineering at the University of Kentucky. His mother, Harriet, who had been a junior high school science teacher, died in 2024 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Fine was raised in Lexington, Kentucky, and graduated from Henry Clay High School in 1992, where he was co-valedictorian. He spent his 11th grade year of high school in 1990–91 as a page of the United States House of Representatives; upon being chosen, he said "I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be next year than Washington on the floor of the House of Representatives." During the summers of 1991 and 1992, he was an assistant for U.S. representative Robert Dornan (R-CA).

Fine graduated from Harvard University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in government ''magna cum laude'' in 1996. In 1995, he was chair of the Harvard University Undergraduate Council student affairs committee. While an undergraduate, he was active in student politics, and was accused of election financial improprieties by what he said was an anonymous source in a smear campaign. He then attended and graduated from Harvard Business School (HBS). There, he earned a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) with high honors in 1998. At HBS, he was named a Baker Scholar, Harvard's highest award for academic achievement.

Early career

Before entering politics, Fine first worked at consulting firm McKinsey & Company in 1997, and as a teaching fellow in economics at Harvard University in 1997–98. He then worked as an executive for casino gambling companies including Harrah's Entertainment, the world's largest gaming company, and starting in 2002 for Carl Icahn at American Casino & Entertainment Properties."Disclosure Statement for Joint Plans of Reorganization,"
Greektown Holdings, L.L.C., et al, June 1, 2009."Longtime gaming executive and current Florida State Rep. Randy Fine hospitalized with COVID-19,"
''CDC Gaming,'' August 4, 2020.

In 2005, at 31 years of age he founded, and for nearly ten years thereafter operated, a Nevada-based casino industry, cruise line, tech, and health care consulting and management business, called the Fine Point Group, with locations in Florida, Memphis, and Las Vegas.Frank Legalo (December 24, 2009)
"People Who Make a Difference,"
''Global Gaming Business Magazine''. It advised casino operators in Las Vegas, San Diego, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. In 2009, he was the chief executive officer of the Greektown Casino in Detroit, Michigan; the casino's revenue increased 9% as the market shrunk 5%. In 2015, Fine explored a U.S. Senate bid; he opted instead to run for the Florida state legislature.Matt Dixon (July 1, 2015)
"Republican Randy Fine won’t run for U.S. Senate,"
''Politico''.

Florida legislature

Florida House of Representatives (2016–24)

Elections

Fine won four consecutive elections in the Florida House of Representatives, in the 53rd and 33rd districts. In 2016, Fine with 57% of the vote defeated Democrat David Kearns for the 53rd district seat being vacated by John Tobia due to term limits. In 2018 and 2020 Fine was the incumbent, and defeated Democrat Phil Moore with 55% of the vote in both elections. Following redistricting, Fine ran in the 33rd district in 2022, defeating Democrat Anthony Yantz with 57% of the vote.

Tenure

In the state house, Fine advocated for protecting the environment of the Indian River Lagoon from sewage spills, and for opposing what he saw as wasteful, lower-priority spending. Fine introduced a bill in the House to provide up to $50 million per year in matching funds to upgrade sewage treatment facilities in the area of the marsh. The legislation also increased the fines for illegal sewage discharges. At the same time as his crusade against sewage spills, in 2019 he voted for HB 829 which made it illegal for local communities to ban the spreading of biosolids (solid organic matter recovered from a sewage treatment process and used as fertilizer) on farmlands that drain into the St. John's River and the Indian River Lagoon. River advocates said the practice of spreading dried human feces as fertilizer on farms around the St. John's River had been linked to toxic algae blooms affecting Melbourne's drinking water supply; Melbourne utility officials insist that they remove algae toxins during their water treatment process, and say that the drinking water is safe.

The editorial board of local newspaper ''Florida Today'' has criticized Fine's personal style. Their joint editorial observed that "Fine is obviously a hard working lawmaker who has used his watchdog skills to do good" but said that "Fine should defend what he believes in, but not by launching tirades against others as crusades on behalf of his constituents. He can look good without trying to make others look bad with personal attacks." There are multiple cases of Fine using "threats to pull or withhold state funding... to strike back at political rivals and retaliate over perceived slights." These include the Brevard Zoo (2023), a Palm Bay Magnet High School firefighter academy (2022), and the West Melbourne Special Olympics (2021; Fine denied he threatened to get the funding pulled). In April 2023, the Florida Commission on Ethics found probable cause he violated ethics rules by threatening to withhold state funding over a personal dispute and interfering in a council member's request for public records. In October 2024, county judge Blaue held Fine in contempt of court for making an obscene gesture and making the "loser" hand sign during a virtual hearing over an election paperwork dispute. Fine was ordered to take an 8-hour anger management course.

= Reedy Creek Improvement District

=
In 2022, Fine sponsored a bill to dissolve all six independent special districts in Florida established prior to November 5, 1968 (the date of the ratification of the Constitution of Florida), including the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) which at the time was the governing jurisdiction and special taxing district for the land of Walt Disney World Resort. The bill passed both the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida State Senate, and was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis on April 22, 2022. A number of commentators said that the potential dissolution was in retaliation for the Walt Disney Company announcing its opposition to the Parental Rights in Education Act (dubbed the "Don't Say Gay Bill" by its critics), that passed several weeks prior and which prohibits classroom instruction on "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" with children in third grade or younger. In an interview, Fine said that research into the RCID and other special districts started "When Disney kicked the hornet's nest several weeks ago." When the potential impact on taxes in the surrounding counties of Orange and Osceola was being discussed, Fine said that the taxpayers would save money, and the tax revenue would instead go to local governments.

Committee assignments (2022–24)

* Health & Human Services Committee (''Chair'')
* Appropriations Committee
* Education & Employment Committee
* Education Quality Subcommittee"Randy Fine,"
flhouse.gov.

Florida Senate (2024–25)

On November 5, 2024, Fine was elected to the Florida Senate from the 19th district, which includes Cape Canaveral and the majority of Brevard County, as he defeated Democrat Vance Ahrens 59% to 41%. He was officially sworn into office on November 19, 2024. He earned a salary of $29,697 as a state senator.

Due to Florida's resign-to-run law, after announcing his candidacy for the United States Congress, Fine submitted his resignation from the Florida Senate effective March 31, 2025.

Committee assignments

* Governmental Oversight and Accountability (''Chair'')
* Appropriations
* Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government
* Appropriations Committee on Pre-K –12 Education
* Education Postsecondary
* Regulated Industries
* Joint Select Committee on Collective Bargaining (''Alternating Chair'')

U.S. House of Representatives

2025 U.S House campaign

Upon the re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, Congressman Mike Waltz was announced as the next U.S. national security advisor. Waltz accordingly resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives effective January 20, 2025, triggering a special election in Florida's 6th congressional district, a six-county area that includes Daytona Beach.C. A. Bridges and Mark Harper (April 1, 2025)
"Who is Randy Fine? Trump’s pick for Congress runs to replace Mike Waltz
, ''Yahoo''.

On November 26, 2024, Fine declared his candidacy for Waltz's former seat representing Florida's 6th congressional district in the United States Congress. He was endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump (who wrote: "Randy Fine has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, RANDY, RUN!"), Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), House majority leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), and House majority whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). His campaign page listed as his priorities “Secure our borders,” “Protect our elections from fraud,” “Defend life,” and “Protect the Second Amendment at all costs.”

On the day of his announcement, he posted on X (formerly Twitter) that "the Hebrew Hammer was coming" and that progressive representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar "might consider leaving before I get there. #BombsAway". He had previously used this hashtag to call for violence in the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. ''Haaretz'' deemed the announcement a threat, and it was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League, but Fine denied that he had any intent to threaten.

Fine won the Republican primary with 83% of the vote. He defeated Aaron Baker and Ehsan Joarder.

Fine repeatedly labeled his progressive Democratic opponent, Josh Weil, as "Jihad Josh." He called for Weil's arrest after a convicted felon paid staffer on Weil's campaign was arrested on burglary and theft charges as she was handing out fliers for Weil's campaign. He also raised a 2015 case in which Weil, who is a teacher, was suspended for misconduct after a student accused Weil of slamming him to the ground.

In the April 1 general election, Fine defeated Weil by 14 percentage points, 57%–43%. Weil had outraised Fine by $10 million to under $1 million.

Tenure

On April 2, 2025, Fine was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives by Speaker Mike Johnson.

Political views

COVID-19 response

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Fine asked local leaders in Brevard County to take the pandemic more seriously. Fine thought it was "a little bit crazy" that Brevard beaches were open to anybody. In 2021, Fine urged people to get vaccinated. He opposed making the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory, but he encouraged those who were not vaccinated to follow the CDC's recommendation and wear a mask in group settings. Fine recommended that parents who wanted mask mandates at school use the state's school voucher system and send their child to a private school with a mask requirement.

Crime

Fine co-sponsored a Florida bill imposing harsher penalties for offenses committed by people who are in the U.S. illegally than for everyone else, including a mandatory death sentence for first-degree murder and child rape committed by anyone who is in the U.S. illegally. In January 2021, he co-sponsored Bill No. HB 1, to increase criminal penalties for assaulting law enforcement officers. He has been endorsed by the International Union of Police Associations.

Economy and fiscal

In 2023, Fine received a rating of 100% from Americans for Prosperity-Florida, a libertarian conservative political advocacy group."Randy Fine,"
VoteSmart.

Education

Fine opined in 2022 that neither DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) nor critical race theory have any place in Florida’s public schools. He is also in favor of giving all Florida families the ability choose private or home schooling, with the help of taxpayer money, by expanding school vouchers.

Environment

In 2020, Fine filed legislation raising all existing fines by 50% for illegally discharging raw sewage into waterways.

Gun rights

Fine proposed a bill which would legalize concealed carry on college and university campuses. Fine said that, "Adults should have the right to protect themselves on campus, particularly after so many universities across America chose to protect Muslim terror advocates over their own students". In 2024, the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF)) endorsed Fine.

Immigration

In 2024, Fine filed a bill pursuant to which undocumented immigrants would no longer be charged in-state tuition rates (under $6,000 per year, rather than out-of-state tuition of $30,000) at Florida colleges and universities."Fine-filed bill would repeal waiver allowing undocumented immigrants in-state tuition,"
''Florida Phoenix''. His office said that in 2021, $45 million in state monies went to provide the in-state rate to undocumented immigrants.

Israel and Palestine

In 2018, Fine demanded that venues in Miami and Tampa cancel scheduled concerts with the New Zealand singer Lorde because she had previously cancelled a concert in Israel after being urged to do so by activists from the BDS movement. According to Fine, letting Lorde play would violate an anti-BDS law that the state enacted in 2016.

In April 2019, Fine called Paul Halpern, a progressive Jewish constituent of his, a "Judenrat" for supporting an event that discussed the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

In May 2021, amid an ongoing crisis in Israel and Palestine, Fine made several posts and comments on his social media pages regarding Palestinians, including a celebration of the Israeli army's bombing of the Gaza Strip. Regarding the deaths of Palestinian children during the conflict, he said, "I don't personally feel bad when human shields are killed".

In October 2023, Fine switched his endorsement in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries from Ron DeSantis to Donald Trump over their reactions to antisemitism and the Gaza war. He lauded Trump for moving the United States embassy to Jerusalem, and for brokering a peace deal between Israel and two Arab countries.

On October 10, 2023, Fine arranged for "Regards from Randy Fine" to be written on an artillery shell to be fired on Gaza, and later arranged for messages on two more shells.

In November 2023, Fine voted against a Florida House of Representatives unsuccessful resolution calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing Gaza war introduced by Angie Nixon, which only received two supporting votes, asserting that anyone who voted for the resolution was anti-Semitic and "putting every Jewish child in the state at risk."

Fine called Ireland an "antisemitic country" after it recognized the State of Palestine in May 2024. He pledged to introduce a bill to ban Florida government entities from contracting with Irish, Norwegian, and Spanish companies, after the latter two countries also recognized Palestine. When Governor DeSantis visited Ireland in August 2024 to attend the Florida State–Georgia Tech football game, Fine criticized the governor, saying, "I was certainly disappointed to see not only folks go to what is clearly an antisemitic country that supports Muslim terror, but I was also disappointed that the game wasn’t cancelled, which it should have been."

Following the killing of Turkish-American citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi by the Israel Defense Forces in September 2024, Fine tweeted "Throw rocks, get shot. One less #MuslimTerrorist. #FireAway," drawing a call by the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, for the legislature to censure Fine.

In December 2024, Fine introduced a bill in the Florida Senate which would ban "flags with a political viewpoint" from being flown in Florida government buildings. He targeted the flag of Palestine, LGBTQ pride flags, and Black Lives Matter flags, though the bill itself does not specify those flags. In a press release, he called Palestine a "fictional country," referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as "pro-violence," and repeatedly promoted the LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory, writing, "Supporters of Muslim terror, child mutilators, and groomers have no right to taxpayer sponsorship of their repugnant messages."

Fine planned to move to Israel along with his family had Kamala Harris won the 2024 United States presidential election.

After the remains of the kidnapped Bibas family mother and children were returned to Israel in February 2025, Fine claimed in a series of tweets that there was no such thing as innocent Palestinian civilians, called them "demons that live on Earth" who "deserve death," and said that "Gaza must be destroyed." The Council on American–Islamic Relations repeated its call for Fine to be censured in response.

Following the 2025 killing of Israeli embassy workers in Washington, D.C. during which the alleged shooter shouted "Free Palestine", Fine called for nuclear weapons to be used in Gaza during an interview with Fox News. Fine said that "The Palestinian cause is an evil one … We nuked the Japanese twice n World War IIin order to get unconditional surrender. That needs to be the same here."

LGBT community

Fine has repeatedly made unsubstantiated allegations that gay and lesbian people are "grooming" minors and while defending a bill banning anyone under the age of 18 from being able to attend a drag show, said: “If it means erasing a community because you have to target children, then, damn right, we ought to do it!” He supported the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay Bill", that prohibits public schools from having classroom discussion or instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through 3rd grade, or in a manner deemed to be against state standards in all grades; it passed, and was signed by the governor.

In April 2021, Fine was one of 77 Republicans in the House to vote yes on bill CS/HB 1475 which bars transgender girls and women from playing on girls' sports teams at public schools; it passed, and was signed by the governor.

Fine proposed a 2023 bill to ban drag performances where children might be in attendance. Opponents of the bill said it would ban his own wife's "sultry performances" at the Spring Forward for Autism gala, which benefits a children's charity. NBC News reported that video of previous years' galas, where his wife performed, confirmed that toddlers were in attendance, and ''Business Insider'' reported that in previous years children performed alongside adults at the galas. In 2023, the gala included a performances by Rainbow Circus Miami, and Randy Fine was one of the gala's prominent sponsors.

Muslims

Fine has a long history of making anti-Muslim statements.

After the 2025 New Orleans truck attack, which was committed by an American-born convert to Islam whose truck was flying the flag of the radical Islamist terror group ISIS as he killed 15 people, Fine called for non-citizen supporters of "Muslim terror" to be deported. He wrote on Twitter that "Muslim terror has attacked the United States — again. The blood is on the hands of those who refuse to acknowledge the worldwide #MuslimProblem." Trump ally Richard Grenell criticized Fine's post and said it was not helping.

At a public hearing Fine chaired in March 2025, he was booed by attendees after he said "enjoy your terrorist rag" to a member of the public wearing a keffiyeh. Fine responded by saying "I'm the chairman, I can say what I want".

Personal life

Fine married his first wife, Anne Price, in 1996. They met while working for Students for an Energy Efficient Environment Inc.

Fine and his second wife, Wendy, have two boys. In 2007, he and his wife purchased a two-bedroom 4,000 square foot home in Melbourne Beach, to which they added 4,500 square feet at a cost, with improvements to the original space, of $1,000,000.

See also

* List of Harvard University politicians
*List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
* List of new members of the 119th United States Congress

References

External links

Congressman Randy Fine
official U.S. House website
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fine, Randy
1974 births
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