Trump-backed Republicans win special primaries to replace Gaetz, Waltz
Two Republican candidates backed by President Donald Trump won special primary elections in Florida on Tuesday to become the likely successors to GOP former representatives Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz.
Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief financial officer, won the Republican nomination for Gaetz’s old seat in the 1st District, while Randy Fine, a state senator, won his party’s nod for Waltz’s former seat in the 6th District, according to Associated Press projections. They will advance to an April 1 special election in which they are likely to prevail because the districts heavily favor the GOP.
Tuesday’s contests were the first special elections for Congress since Trump returned to the White House. The seats became vacant after Trump tapped Waltz to be his national security adviser and initially picked Gaetz to be his attorney general. Gaetz withdrew from consideration days later but had already resigned his seat.
Trump and House Republican leaders quickly unified behind Patronis and Fine, hoping to pad the House GOP’s tiny majority with as little drama as possible. Republicans hold 218 seats, while Democrats have 215 and the two Florida seats remain vacant.
Fine drew two GOP opponents, while Patronis had to navigate a more competitive, 10-way primary. His opponents included Joel Rudman, a former state representative from the district; Aaron Dimmock, a 2024 Gaetz primary challenger who was backed then by former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California); and Gene Valentino, a former county commissioner from the area who self-funded his campaign.
The special primaries were mostly uneventful, as Fine and Patronis emphasized their endorsements from Trump, raised more money than their competition and ignored attacks from their rivals. Waltz endorsed Fine, while Gaetz spoke warmly of Patronis, who suggested he would be a less attention-grabbing House member than the polarizing Gaetz.
Gaetz led the successful effort to oust McCarthy from the speakership in 2023. He left the House last year amid a House Ethics Committee investigation that later reported he possessed illegal drugs and regularly paid for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl in 2017.
Fine’s Democratic opponent in the April 1 election is educator Josh Weil. Patronis will face Democrat Gay Valimont, a gun-control activist.