Businessman Randy Fine has decided to forgo running for the U.S. Senate in 2016 to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and has his eyes firmly on Tallahassee.
Fine, a gaming consultant, told Politico in an article published on Wednesday night that he will not run for the Senate but will instead continue his bid for the Florida House seat currently held by term-limited Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne Beach.
But prominent Republican consultant Brian Hughes of Meteoric Media Strategies told Politico that the businessman would have had troubles making a bid for statewide office.
“It became clear his vulnerabilities and weaknesses became too strong to undertake the race he wants to take on," Hughes told Politico about his assessment of Fine’s potential campaign. Sources close to Fine told Sunshine State News on Sunday that Hughes was not part of Fine's decision making prcess.
“I’m sure that the political consultants who thought they could make millions of dollars off of me if I ran from the Senate are disappointed,” Fine told Politico. “But they did not have anything to do with my decision.”
In the meantime, Fine is focused again on running for the Florida House in a solidly Republican district. By the end of May, Fine had raised around $40,400 for his House bid and moved $115,000 of his own wealth to his campaign account. Democrats David Anthony Kerans and Santa Isabel Wright are running for their party’s nomination.
In the battle to replace Rubio, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., is already in the race while fellow congressmen U.S. Reps. Jeff Miller, Curt Clawson and David Jolly continue to leave the door open to running for the Republican nomination. Other potential Republican hopefuls include Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, former Attorney General Bill McCollum and businessman Todd Wilcox. On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., is already running while U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., is also a possible candidate. Republican strategist Roger Stone is a possible candidate on the Libertarian line.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
