Dan Bilzerian drew bipartisan condemnation Sunday evening after posting antisemitic ads and attacks targeting Randy Fine in Florida's 6th Congressional District. Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries both publicly denounced the campaign rhetoric. Fine, who won a special election last year to replace Mike Waltz, was the direct target.
Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries
Johnson posted on X Sunday evening that “The vile attack ads against Congressman Randy Fine in Florida's 6th District are disgusting and should be condemned by all political leaders on the Right and Left. Antisemitism and outward hatred of Jewish communities have no place in our politics or in America, and we will continue to call them out wherever they arise.” Jeffries called Bilzerian’s effort a “hateful campaign” and described it as “blatantly antisemitic and shocks the conscience.”
The reaction widened beyond the two party leaders. Ted Cruz expressed revulsion at Bilzerian’s rhetoric, and Mike Huckabee called it “possibly the most disgusting political thread I've seen.”
Randy Fine in Florida
Bilzerian has ramped up his attacks with antisemitic ads, verbal attacks and posts that include references to Adolf Hitler and explicit antisemitic tropes. His campaign website says he supports ending all foreign aid, including to Israel, and pushes an antisemitic claim that Jewish special interest groups are running the country into the ground.
Fine has also faced criticism over his own remarks. He posted on X in February, “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” and later said the comment was a response to a post by Nerdeen Kiswani. Last July, he called Ilhan Omar a “Muslim terrorist” after she had called Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal.”
The immediate question inside the Florida Republican primary is whether Bilzerian’s rhetoric is gaining support or simply driving denunciations from party leaders. The public response makes clear that his campaign has crossed a line for Republican and Democratic leaders alike, but the race itself still turns on how voters in Florida's 6th Congressional District react to the attacks.
