ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN: Randy Fine’s vulgar toxicity personifies Florida politics. (Scott Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel column, April 4, 2025

So true.  When I first ran for Mosquito Control, a shadowy PAC had a TV commercial called me "the biggest liberal in St. Johns County," with my head superimposed on an insect body, with a buzzing in the background, and urging viewers to "Tell Ed Slavin to buzz off."  I can just feel the love.  From Orlando Sentinel:

Maxwell: Randy Fine’s vulgar toxicity personifies Florida politics

Republican Randy Fine — whom Ron DeSantis says no one likes because he “repels people” — celebrates his congressional win Tuesday night in front of a cut-out figure of his mentor, Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

By SCOTT MAXWELL | smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

UPDATED: April 4, 2025 at 9:02 PM EDT

To hear Ron DeSantis tell it, nobody likes Randy Fine.

“He repels people,” the governor said last week while explaining that he only nominated Fine to be president of Florida Atlantic University two years ago because Fine’s fellow Republicans wanted him out of the Legislature.

That says a lot about how much DeSantis values higher education. Still, I tend to agree with the governor’s assessment of Fine. I’ve covered politics in Florida for more than a quarter century and can’t recall many politicians more toxic, divisive and generally loathed.

Fine threatened to defund Special Olympics — for not inviting him to a party at a Chick-fil-A. He recently referred to a Florida citizen’s Middle Eastern headdress as a “terrorist rag” while chairing a legislative meeting. He called a female political opponent a “whore.”

He flipped a judge the bird, was ordered into anger management and then called for the judge to be impeached.

And he’s quite the role model for kids and civility in general, declaring that, when asked what pronouns he prefers, he responds: “You / Are / A / Fu&$ng / Moron.”

By the measure of most any decent human, Randy Fine is, as DeSantis said, pretty repulsive.

But you know what he also is? One of America’s newest congressmen.

And I submit that’s because, despite all the hand-wringing by DeSantis and others, Fine perfectly encapsulates the current state of Florida politics.

He’s vulgar and divisive — precisely what many voters in this state have shown time and again they crave, no matter how much some of them want to pretend otherwise.

ine practices an angry brand of identity politics that both DeSantis and Donald Trump also espouse — and which Floridians can’t seem to get enough of. The problem seems to be that some of the very politicians who routinely spew such takes don’t like it when any of it’s spewed in their direction.

State Rep-turned-Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini is another good example. Sabatini revels in nastiness, yet also loathes Fine, calling him a “fat slob,” “dirtbag,” “moron” and “freakshow.”

Guys who dish it out hardest are often the softest about taking return fire.

Meanwhile, Floridians keep electing and re-electing all the spewers, whether to Congress or a county commission.

Because, again, that’s what Florida is now.

Perhaps it’s more fair to say that’s who Florida Republicans are, since they are the ones who completely dominate this state politically. The red-meat base now seems to drive the train.

Leading up to this past week’s election, there was national buzz about how Fine might lose. I didn’t believe it for a moment. Pundits, including some conservative ones, thought Fine might be too abrasive and off-putting. And I was like: Yeah, that’s exactly what Floridians have shown they like to see.

That’s also what this country’s powerful business interests have come to embrace. After calling a school board member a “whore,” Fine was then endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

There are still some respectable, old-school conservatives more interested in economic policy than culture wars, in reading books than banning them and are in fixing Florida’s insurance market than fuming about drag queens. But they’re now the minority.

Two other Republicans ran against Fine in the District 6 race to replace Michael Waltz. Republican voters gave them, collectively, 17% of the vote. More significantly, Republicans could’ve recruited any number of more diplomatic and respected party members to run for the seat. Last year, I floated names that included former House Speaker Paul Renner and even former Congressman John Mica, who used to represent part of this district that includes parts of Flagler, Volusia, Lake and three other counties.

But Republican Party leaders didn’t want anyone with old-school values or civility. They wanted Fine. Because they know he personifies the kind of coarse politics their most reliable voters covet.

Donald Trump credited himself more than Fine for the victory, posting on Truth Social that “THE TRUMP ENDORSEMENT, AS ALWAYS, PROVED FAR GREATER THAN THE DEMOCRATS FORCES OF EVIL.”

That man’s poor CapsLock button.

It’s true that Fine underperformed in the district, posting numbers lower than Trump did last year. But Fine still won by 14 points, a landslide by any traditional measure.

And that’s because, again, Randy Fine is Florida politics in 2025.

One Twitter/X account popular for mocking a wide assortment of politicians recently mused that Randy Fine “might be the most disliked politician I’ve seen on this app and that is really saying something.” The @3YearLetterman account went on to observe: “Even his own voters seem to hate him.”

That’s true. But it seems to be a sadomasochistic kind of love where Florida voters claim to be repelled by the very people they keep putting in office.

And Fine knows it. After the judge ordered him to take anger management classes last year, he largely shrugged it off, telling TV stations: “Look, I’ve got a lot of things in common with President Trump.”

That seems accurate. And it’s a big part of why he has continued to win elections, no matter how many Floridians, including Ron DeSantis, claim to find him detestable.

smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com

Originally Published: April 4, 2025 at 3:07 PM EDT