House Republicans will finally begin this week with a full conference for the first time this year.
Newly minted representatives Randy Fine, R-Fla., and Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., won special elections in the Sunshine State’s 6th and 1st congressional districts, respectively, Tuesday night.
It’s going to give some much-needed wiggle room to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who has been wrestling with a one- to two-vote margin since the 119th Congress began at the beginning of January.
In separate interviews with Fox News Digital this week, both lawmakers signaled they would be team players focused on advancing President Donald Trump’s agenda, likely welcome news for House GOP leaders as they navigate a conference that’s been deeply fractured on key issues like government spending.
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“We do not need the team to fight within itself. Everyone’s got to keep their eye on the prize,” Fine said. “How do we make Speaker Johnson successful? And when we do that, how do we make President Trump successful? My focus is helping the team be successful. That will help my constituents. That will help Florida. That will help the country.”
Patronis told Fox News Digital some of his top priorities would be the military and veterans and advancing Trump’s policies on government efficiency, the border crisis and fentanyl trafficking.
The military is particularly important to Patronis, who until recently was the chief financial officer of Florida. The 1st Congressional District, which had been represented by former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., maintains a heavy military presence in multiple branches of the armed forces.
Patronis pledged his office would be “doing everything we can” to help the military installations continue to “protect our nation.”
On veterans’ care, the new Florida congressman lauded Trump’s first administration for backing reforms aimed at enabling veterans to seek care outside of VA hospitals but said it was “mothballed” under the Biden administration.
“It’s really allowed those vets to seek services in their own community instead of traveling out of state,” he said, pledging to work to get it back on track.
While he did not mention the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) specifically, Patronis signaled he aligned with its goals of transparency in federal spending.
“I’m a big believer that the citizens of the state of Florida spend their money better, a heck of a lot better, than Washington, D.C., does,” Patronis said. “I like being a watchdog. … I like to ensure that that transparency is the norm, that we have, you know, a public that is informed and aware how their tax dollars are being used.”
Fine, when asked about his agenda items, deferred largely to the president.
“The big agenda item for me is gonna make sure we get President Trump’s agenda passed. Look, it’s a narrow majority, and you have to support the team captain,” Fine said.
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He pointed out that Florida’s Republican majority grew significantly during his tenure in both houses of the state legislature.
“It didn’t get there overnight. It’s because Republicans showed that we knew how to govern, and we hit singles and doubles and triples every day. And the voters rewarded us,” Fine said. “The goal needs to be go from a five-vote majority to a 15, to a 25, to a 35, and you do that by governing and putting points on the board every day.”
Both Republicans made clear, however, that their principles would follow them from the Sunshine State to the nation’s capital.
Patronis said he was looking at starting work on insurance reform, a critical issue in Florida, a state that regularly deals with natural disasters.
“When you’ve got high insurance rates, when you’ve got inflation the way it is, home ownership is more of a dream than a reality,” he said. “We rolled out several solutions when I was CFO.”
Among the initiatives he mentioned was legislation to create a tax-free savings account to help homeowners during national disasters, a bill that was introduced by Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., a fellow delegation member.
Fine maintained to Fox News Digital that he “can’t give carte blanche” guarantees to House GOP leaders but said he foresaw few if any future points of contention.
“I was the only Republican Jew in the Florida legislature for eight years. I got this crazy nickname, the ‘Hebrew hammer,’ which I finally decided to embrace,” Fine said. “If, God forbid, they were going to do something that stood in the way of [fighting antisemitism], that would be an example where my principals would override, and I wouldn’t be able to be with the team.”
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