Two close allies of President Trump allies won Republican primaries Tuesday in deep-red Florida congressional seats left vacant when Rep. Matt Gaetz and Rep. Mike Waltz resigned.
The wins put MAGA loyalists Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine on glide paths to Congress when they take on little-known Democratic opponents in special general elections on April 1.
Their arrival on Capitol Hill will be welcomed by House Speaker Mike Johnson whose GOP caucus now holds a narrow three-seat majority that complicates passing key planks of Trump’s agenda.
Patronis, the state’s chief financial officer, is a longtime fixture in GOP circles and in the conservative Florida Panhandle where the seat stretches across heavily Republican beach towns and military bases.
He takes the place of Gaetz, who resigned the seat after Trump nominated him to be attorney general. His nomination quickly collapsed amid allegations of drugs and sex with an underage girl.
Fine is a state lawmaker and longtime ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who switched to side with Trump during the presidential primary feud between the two men, whichTrump decisively won.
He has a reputation as a staunch supporter of Israel’s right-wing government and its war in Gaza. He recently made headlines by suggesting progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar, the only two Muslim women in Congress, should flee when he takes office.
In Iowa, Democrats scored a major victory when a state Senate candidate won a special election to replace a Republican lawmaker in a district that Trump won by 19% in November.
The district in the Quad Cities region once voted for ex-President Obama before swinging hard to Trump, making it a closely watched bellwether in the red-trending Hawkeye State.
The huge shift in such a short time suggests that some swing voters are already disenchanted with Trump.
Democrats scored a string of special election wins and near misses in 2017 in the first months of Trump’s first administration, including the shocking upset pulled off by ex-Sen. Doug Jones over scandal-tarred Republican Roy Moore in ruby red Alabama.
