ORLANDO, Fla. — President Donald Trump-endorsed candidates Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis won Republican primaries Tuesday in special elections for seats in districts vacated by former Florida Congressmen Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz.

State Sen. Fine, a Brevard County Republican, and state Chief Financial Officer Patronis now head to the April 1 general election as GOP nominees for Florida’s congressional District 6 and District 1, respectively.

The two are favorites in the reliably GOP-leaning districts, which were won by their predecessors by over 30 points in November. Their victories would help expand the Republicans’ current three-seat majority in the U.S. House of Representatives that will get narrower if U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, is confirmed as Trump’s United Nations ambassador.

The two seats were vacated after Trump tapped Waltz and Gaetz to join his administration. Waltz resigned the day Trump was inaugurated to become his national security adviser. Gaetz resigned after being tapped as attorney general but withdrew from consideration amid an ethics scandal and said he wouldn’t return to Congress.

Fine and Patronis were the most high-profile GOP candidates in their races before Trump’s endorsement. Neither lives in the district they hope to represent in Congress, which is not required of candidates under federal law.

The Associated Press called Fine’s election only nine minutes after polls closed. He had 82% of the over 29,000 votes cast as of 7:40 p.m. He will face Democrat Josh Weil, a Kissimmee schoolteacher who lives in Orlando. Weil won 60% of the over 9,000 votes cast in the Democratic primary as of 8:50 p.m., according to AP.

When reached by the Orlando Sentinel for comment, Fine referred a reporter to a post he’d made on social media site X after his victory: “G-d saved @realDonaldTrump’s life so he could save the world. And tonight, both of them, powered by my amazing family and all of you who voted for me, put me one step closer to being able to help him do that. I swear I won’t let any of you down.”

Fine, of Melbourne, served eight years in the Florida House before being elected to the Senate in November. He lives about 75 miles south of District 6, which covers six counties and stretches from Daytona Beach to Mount Dora. It extends westward to just outside Ocala and northward just south of St. Augustine.

The Harvard-educated conservative firebrand has a reputation for making controversial headlines, including the idea of shutting down the University of Central Florida over construction spending and threatening in a text to pull funding for Special Olympics over a feud with a Brevard County School Board member he called a “whore.”

In the nearly three months since he was elected state senator he filed a bill to ban local governments, public schools and state universities from displaying flags promoting a “fictional” Palestine, “pro-violence” Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights and other “woke” topics. He also filed one to repeal a 2014 law allowing undocumented students, often known as “Dreamers,” from receiving the same in-state college tuition benefits as other state residents.

Fine raised $426,712 and spent $184,236 as of Jan. 8, according to his latest campaign finance filings with the Federal Elections Commission. He defeated fellow Republicans Ehsan Joarder of Hernando County and Aaron Baker of Sorrento in Lake County.

Weil raised $225,470 and spent $84,706 as of Jan. 8, according to his latest FEC filings. He defeated fellow Democrat George “Ges” Selmont, a St. Johns county businessman who previously ran for Congress in 2018.

Fine and Weil will face independent Randall Terry, founder of anti-abortion group Operation Rescue once based in Melbourne who made national headlines for blockading clinics, and Libertarian Party candidate Andrew Parrott.

Patronis faced a crowded field of nine other Republicans in the primary, including former state Rep. Joel Rudman, the mascara-and-leather-wearing “Rock Doctor” who fronts the hard-rock band Freedom Fighters. Patronis has raised $972,363 and spent $261,611 as of Jan. 8, according to FEC filings.

Patronis, of Panama City, also served eight years in the Florida House. He was appointed chief financial officer by then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2017 before winning election to the position in 2018 and 2022. He announced his resignation from his post effective March 31.

Patronis faces Democratic nominee Gay Valimont, a gun violence prevention activist with a background in sports medicine.

District 1 is located in the western Panhandle.

©2025 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.