Florida Rep. Randy Fine trounces Jew-hating GOP primary foe Dan Bilzerian, who cheered Hitler

Dan Bilzerian ran a congressional campaign on the idea that maybe we've all been too hard on Hitler. That sentence should not be possible to write about a real Republican primary in 2024, and yet here we are. Voters in Florida looked at that and did the only sane thing: they buried him. Randy Fine won, and won big, because most people still understand that "reassessing" a genocidal dictator is not a fresh take, it's a red flag.

What's strange is how much oxygen Bilzerian got before voters shut the door. He had money, a social media following built on poker chips and private jets, and a willingness to say the ugliest thing in the room for clicks. None of that translated into actual votes, which tells you something reassuring about the gap between online provocation and real political support. The people who show up to vote in a primary are not the same people retweeting Hitler content for engagement.

This also isn't really a story about Randy Fine's talents as a candidate, though he clearly ran a competent race. It's a story about the party doing what it's supposed to do when a grifter with a large following tries to buy a nomination on outrage alone. Fine is Jewish, represents a district that includes part of the Space Coast, and had every reason to make this personal. He didn't need to. The voters made the point for him.

The lesson here isn't complicated. Antisemitism dressed up as edgy commentary still loses elections when the people casting ballots are paying attention. Bilzerian's defeat wasn't close, and it shouldn't have been. Sometimes the electorate does exactly what it's supposed to do, and it's worth saying so plainly instead of pretending this was ever a real contest of ideas.