‘Way underperformance’: Ron DeSantis expects Randy Fine to underachieve in CD 6, but still win

Before being elected Governor, Ron DeSantis represented Florida’s 6th Congressional District. And with early voting underway in a CD 6 Special Election, DeSantis is offering his first comments about the Republican nominee, with whom he’s clashed in the past.

“Regardless of the outcome in that, it’s going to be a way underperformance from what I won that district by in 2022 (as a candidate for re-election as Governor) and what the President won it by in November. They’re going to try to lay that at the feet of President Donald Trump. That is not a reflection of President Trump. It’s a reflection of the specific candidate running in that race,” DeSantis said, referring to state Sen. Randy Fine.

In response, Fine’s campaign spokesperson said he appreciated DeSantis “deploying his team” to help out in the stretch run of the campaign. That’s a remarkable development given long-term bad blood between the two Republicans.

DeSantis and Fine have feuded since late 2023, when Fine accused the Governor of coddling neo-Nazis. DeSantis pointed to his record on Israel and other issues important to people of the Jewish faith in arguing that Fine was just looking to make a name for himself.

While Fine does have endorsements from Trump and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, DeSantis clearly believes that the state legislator faces a “candidate-specific issue” that will make the race against Democrat Josh Weil much closer than the strong Republican lean of the area would otherwise have it be.

“The district is so overwhelmingly Republican,” DeSantis said.

“It’s almost impossible for someone with an ‘R’ by their name to lose that district. So I would anticipate (the) Republican candidate is still going to be successful. Do I think that they will get even close to the margins that that I received or President Trump received? No. Is that a reflection on the President? Absolutely not. It’s a reflection of the candidate that’s running in that race.”

The district is 46% Republican and just 27% Democratic, according to the most recent L2 voter data. Yet Republicans have a slight lead in turnout at this writing Tuesday morning.

Weil has raised more than $10 million, drawing from motivated Democrats nationwide in the last few months and shocking many who expected him to be as underwhelming as other recent Democratic nominees in the district. Fine’s fundraising report showed that he raised less than $1 million, and had under $93,000 left in the bank for the final stretch of the race.

For his part, Fine’s camp says the race is really about Democrats like Weil “who will stop at nothing to destroy Trump.”

They say the “strength of the Trump agenda” and the “President’s unwavering confidence” in him will help Fine win and “fight fiercely alongside President Trump to Make America Great Again.”

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Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics contributed to this report.