Florida Republican on Democrats’ strategy: ‘That’s the choice they have to make…persecution or policy’

Florida’s Rep. Randy Fine has a blunt prescription for a House Republican conference staring down a steep Democratic majority in January: stop worrying about compromise, hand the minority gavel to Rep. Jim Jordan, and start fighting, suggesting that Democrats will likely pursue political persecution as the main focus in the next Congress.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News Digital, Fine—who expanded his own victory margin to 19 points even as Republicans lost control of the chamber—argued that voters punished the GOP not for its policies, but because they didn’t see lawmakers willing to go to the mat for them.

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For Fine, the message sent by Jordan’s election is unambiguous:

“Well, it says to me that we’re ready to fight back. I mean, Jim Jordan has two unique qualifications for the job. 

“One, he’s our best fighter. He protected and fought for President Trump during the ridiculous impeachments of President Trump’s first term. He’s just somebody who knows how to go into the arena and fight back. 

“But the second thing is, he’s an extraordinary communicator. And over the next two years, we are in a very diminished minority. That’s going to be our greatest strength, is to point out why the Democratic policies won’t actually improve anyone’s lives, and to point out the policies that we would propose that will. So, as a fighter and a communicator, I think he’s very well positioned to lead us for the next two years.”

Fine downplays policy as the primary driver of the disastrous 2026 blue tsunami:

“I don’t know that we need to change our policies. And I don’t even know how much of our messaging we need to change. What we need to do is we need to fight. I believe that we lost the election because voters thought we didn’t care about their problems, because they didn’t see us fighting to solve them. 

“Voters will vote for you if they see you fighting, even if you fail. But they won’t vote for you if they don’t see you fighting. Now I’m a guy who defied the odds. I increased my margin in the election. I may be the only Republican in the country to do that. I won my last election by 14, I won this one by 19.”

With House Republicans shifting from passing bills to playing defense after electing Rep. Jim Jordan to succeed outgoing Speaker Mike Johnson as minority leader, Fine drew a sharp line between the two leadership roles.

“Well, it’s a very different job. Look, I think if we kept the majority, I think Mike Johnson would still be the speaker. The speaker’s job and the minority leader’s job are completely different. So Mike Johnson’s job for the next 50 plus days is to try to get as many good things passed through the House as he can. 

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“Jim Jordan’s not going to be able to pass anything. The Democrats could have a 90 to 100 vote majority. His job is going to be to fight back when they’re impeaching and they’re interrogating and they are being vindictive, but also again to communicate why their policies will not make people’s lives better. 

“They’re going to come out and say Medicare for all. We’re going to have to say, ‘No, no there’s no such thing. It’s going to be Medicaid for all. When you give it to everyone, everyone will suffer. We’ll end up like Canada where there are death panels or the UK where you can wait a year or two to get to a doctor.’ That’s what we’re going to have to do: fight back and communicate. That’s a very different job than what Mike Johnson had to do the last two years.”

Gridlock may be the persistent feature of the next Congress, but Fine does not completely discard the potential for compromise:

“Well, first off, compromise isn’t inevitable. We may not do very much for the next two years. And I think that’s the most likely outcome. Democrats pass ridiculous things, President Trump vetoes them, and then we uphold the veto in the House and the Senate. I think that’s the most likely outcome for the next two years. 

“If it relates to compromise, you have to see what we’re offered. So, for example, if Democrats would agree to voter ID, which is a huge thing the American people want, they might be able to extract a concession from us. If they’re willing to stop so much of the ridiculous immigration into this country, they might be able to get concessions from us on other things. So, the problem is this: to Democrats, compromise means we give them what they want. It’s always a one-way street. 

“It’s funny, when Democrats win, they say elections have consequences. When we win, they say we need to be bipartisan. And that’s how their viewpoint is. They never come to our side of the world. So I’ll see if they want to compromise. I’ll be open to it. But it will truly require us getting some of the things that we want that they have fought us on for the time I’ve been in Congress.”

On foreign policy objectives, Fine points to several Democrats he’s prepared to work with, while clarifying his position on Israel:

“Sure. I mean, look, in the Senate, you’ve got John Fetterman, who I think is an incredibly strong advocate for Western civilization. I don’t think it’s fair to say I’m an advocate for Israel. That makes it sound like I’m just an advocate for a country. It’s more than that. 

“The United States and Israel are the only two countries in the world that are unambiguously standing up to Muslim terror, which seeks to fundamentally redefine life for all of us around the world. So I’m on the side of Western civilization and John Fetterman embodies that in the Senate. I think you’ve got guys like Jared Moskowitz and Josh Gottheimer on the House side, on the Democratic side, who do as well…Unfortunately, I think they’re pretty outnumbered at this point, but if they want to fight with me, I’m happy to fight alongside them.”

Finally, Fine contends that the Democrats face a clear dichotomy in how they want to proceed to govern, but argues they will likely make the wrong choice:

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“The American people elected Democrats not because they wanted investigations and persecution. They elected Democrats because they didn’t think we were solving their problems. If they make the mistake of going down the vengeance and persecution path, they’ll end up in two years just the same way we did. If they try to solve the problems of the American people, they’ll do well. 

“The problem is their ideas don’t work. Remember, the Affordable Care Act didn’t make health care affordable. But if they try to do things that will help the American people, at least they’ll be listening to them. But that’s the choice they have to make. Persecution or policy. I think they’re going to choose persecution, but we’ll find out in a couple of months.”