This is how we send a message!
MAR 19, 2025 (deanobeidallah.substack.com)
You don’t have to wait until the 2026 midterms–or even this November’s races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia–to send a message to Donald Trump, the GOP and America. You can do all of that right now with the two congressional special elections slated for April 1. The time to shock the nation is now!
Both of these special elections are taking place in Florida after Republican members of the House recently resigned. In Florida’s District 1, Democrat Gay Valimont is taking on Trump backed Jimmy Patronis—who unbelievably wanted Florida taxpayers to fork over $5 million to reimburse Trump for his legal fees spent in his criminal cases.
And in Florida’s District 6, Democrat Josh Weil is taking on Randy Fine—who is not just a Trump backed candidate but a vile religious bigot. I’ll explain more on that below—but Fine doesn’t hide his religious supremacy just as MAGA doesn’t hide their white supremacy.
As we all know, in special elections the turnout is generally very low. That means despite these two districts being solidly red, an upset in one or both races is truly possible. And bluntly, even a close finish in these districts that the GOP candidates in November won by nearly 30 points would send a message to the nation that Trump and his MAGA agenda are as unpopular as polling now shows they are.
Think back to 2017 and the early special elections that year where Democrats greatly closed gaps from the November 2016 elections just a few months earlier. That both grabbed headlines and importantly helped energize the opposition to Trump. We need that same thing now!
When you look at these two races, there is a real path for success. Democratic nominee Gay Valimont is running in Florida’s first (the Pensacola area) to fill the seat that became open when Matt Gaetz—remember that scumbag?!—resigned after Trump nominated him to be Attorney General.
Gay is a tireless activist who first became active in politics after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting that left 20 students and six adults dead. Valimont’s story though includes painful heartbreak when in 2020, her husband Brian was diagnosed with ALS and a few months later their 8-year-old son Eli was diagnosed with a rare and terminal brain tumor. Gay served as the primary caretaker for both until they passed away within months of each other. This experience left her with more than $100,000 in medical bills, making her keenly aware of how our healthcare system is broken and needs to be fixed.
Her opponent Jimmy Patronis not only wanted Florida taxpayers to pay for Trump’s personal legal fees but in his past elections he was funded by the very same insurance companies he was charged with regulating as Florida’s elected Chief Financial Officer. That is why under his leadership, property insurance rates have skyrocketed.
Valimont is packing venues and recently announced she has raised nearly $7 million to flip this red seat. I spoke to Valimont on Wednesday about her run for Congress— which you can hear below. She shared that the top issue by far is the slowing to bad economy. Valimont also explained that veterans of all political backgrounds are outraged with the GOP’s cuts to veterans’ care—which could decide this election given Florida’s First district is home to the most veterans in the Sunshine state.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/t8NrBvsreC8?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0
Over in Florida’s 6th district on the east coast of Florida that includes Daytona Beach, Democratic nominee Josh Weil is also running a great campaign. A teacher and father who is raising his two sons on his own, is outspoken on the need to reduce costs, protect Social Security and make insurance more affordable in Florida. Given Weil’s work as a teacher, he has also made preserving and improving our education system a cornerstone of his campaign.
You can check out a clip of my recent interview of Josh below talking outrageous insurance costs.
Then there is Weil’s opponent, the vile bigot Randy Fine. For starters, Fine doesn’t even live in the district. Trump wanted him to run so he did. But Fine has openly feuded with Ron DeSantis–meaning the DeSantis political machine is not helping him and likely wants to see him lose. That is great for Weil.
Fine has made this campaign about smearing Weil for his Muslim faith, calling him “Jihad Josh” and claimed Weil supports “Muslim terror.” (Weil had been raised Christian, but converted to Islam years ago after marrying a woman who was Muslim.)
The despicable Fine—who is a subscriber of the same far right religious supremacist views of people like Benjamin Netanyahu–has a long, documented history of demonizing Muslims. In September 2024, Fine celebrated the killing of 26-year-old American citizen Ayşenur Ezgi, an activist killed by the Israeli forces while peacefully protesting illegal settlements in the West Bank.
In a November 26, 2024 tweet, Fine targeted Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), writing, “The ‘Hebrew Hammer’ is coming. @RashidaTlaib and @IlhanMN might consider leaving before I get there.” He then added, “#BombsAway,” as a reference to Netanyahu’s massive bombings in Gaza that have slaughtered thousands of women and children.
But Fine also has shown deep contempt for Christians. He has been outspoken in not only supporting the oppression of Christians in the West Bank (there are more than 50,000) but also advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Christians—along with Muslims—from the area to make it exclusively for Israeli Jews. For example, he pledged during this campaign that: “My first bill in congress will be to recognize Gaza and Judea and Samaria as parts of the State of Israel and to call for the expulsion of these monsters [Palestinians] from Israel.”
He has also smeared the Catholics of Ireland as being pro-terrorism for showing support for Palestinian Christians and Muslims–and the list goes on of the hate he has peddled.
Like Valimont, Weil is drawing big crowds and has raised nearly $10 million dollars. Based on early ballots returned, both of these campaigns are well positioned to upset their GOP opponents—or at least greatly close the gap from the 30 point wins the Republicans had in November in their respective districts.
People keep asking what more can I do to take on Trump and Musk?! Well here you go! You can donate, volunteer and/or ensure friends in these two Democrats respective districts get out to vote by April 1. This how we send a message and potentially shock the nation!
To learn more about helping both candidates:
Gay’s website: https://gayforcongress.com/
Josh’s website: https://joshweil.us/
