Representative Randy Fine, a Florida Republican, is facing backlash from an Armenian American advocacy group after telling a podcast host that “we don’t want Armenians to be able to serve in Congress”—a remark made during an attack on his GOP primary challenger Dan Bilzerian.
The congressman’s remarks arrive at a moment of heightened scrutiny over discriminatory rhetoric in Republican primary contests, and from a lawmaker who has been endorsed three times by President Donald Trump. How GOP leadership responds could shape whether the comments become a sustained political liability for Fine in the primary where he faces a challenger whose own platform openly includes antisemitic claims that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has identified as conspiracy framing.
For Armenian Americans, who number an estimated 1.5 million in the United States and have a long history of public service, the comments touch a particularly raw nerve. The remarks come less than three years after Azerbaijan’s 2023 ethnic cleansing of more than 100,000 Armenian Christians from Nagorno-Karabakh—a campaign Fine has been criticized for indirectly supporting through legislation backing Azerbaijan, according to the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), the largest and most influential U.S.-based grassroots Armenian American advocacy organization.
Newsweek reached out to Fine’s office and Bilzerian’s campaign via email on Saturday for comment.
What Representative Randy Fine Said
Fine, who is Jewish, appeared Thursday on The Jenny Beth Show where he attacked Bilzerian and extended his criticism to Armenians as a group. His full statement on the show was:
“Israel just put out a list of the top 10 most dangerous antisemites in the world. And to my amazement, a guy I’d never even heard of until about three weeks ago was ranked number one. He’s got a very large social media following, not from Florida, he lives in Las Vegas when he’s not in his foreign country of Armenia. But you know, he’s just a terrible antisemite. I think what he’s trying to show is that this group of hate-filled lunatics and losers can take hold in the Republican Party.
“But look, my, constituents are smart. The little Armenian said, I think that President Trump was a pedophile rapist who should be impeached. That’s not a winning argument. It may work in Armenia, where he’s from [sic], but that’s not an argument. That’s not gonna work in the United States. So, it’s bad. We have to take it seriously because we don’t want this to take root in our party. We don’t want Armenians to be able to serve in Congress. But I’m not gonna lose too much sleep about it.”
The Israeli government list Fine referenced ranked Bilzerian first among “prominent influencers in the global anti-semitic and anti-Zionist arena in 2025.”
The list placed climate activist Greta Thunberg in second and white supremacist Nick Fuentes in eighth.
Fine Doubles Down on X
The lawmaker returned to the issue Sunday on X, expanding his comments to include several other ethnic and national groups while framing the issue around dual citizenship.
“Armenians should not serve in Congress. Neither should Somalis. Or Guatemalans. Or — wait for it — Israelis,” Fine wrote. “If you are a citizen of a foreign country, you shouldn’t serve in ours. We need to pass my bill to stop the invasion of dual citizens in Congress. NOW.”
The post broadened Fine’s original framing — which had singled out Armenians during his Thursday podcast appearance — to a categorical position against any dual citizen serving in Congress. Notably, Fine included “Israelis” in his list, an apparent attempt to deflect criticism that his original remarks were specifically targeted at Bilzerian’s Armenian heritage.
The Armenian National Committee of America Responds
The remarks drew immediate condemnation from the ANCA.
“The ANCA condemns this racist anti-Armenian rant by US Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), cosponsor of a reckless Congressional resolution to ship US arms and aid to genocidal Azerbaijan,” the advocacy organization wrote on X on Friday.
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the ANCA, told The Armenian Report on Saturday Fine’s statement was bigoted and politically self-interested.
“Randy Fine’s racist rant targeting Armenians comes as no surprise—after all, he’s backing a bill to arm and abet Azerbaijan, a genocidal dictatorship fresh off its ethnic cleansing of 150,000 Armenian Christians,” Hamparian said. “This hate-filled bigot has no place in Congress.”
In addition, ANCA Advocacy Director Gev Iskajyan wrote on X on Friday: “This isn’t just racist—it’s disqualifying. Saying Armenians shouldn’t be allowed to serve in Congress is blatant bigotry. No elected official who traffics in this kind of hate should be running for office.”
Who Is Randy Fine?
Fine, 51, was elected to represent Florida’s 6th Congressional District in April 2025 in a special election to replace former Congressman Michael Waltz. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Education and Workforce Committees. A third-generation Floridian, Fine built a career as an entrepreneur in retail, technology and hospitality before entering politics.
Fine was elected to the Florida House in 2016 and served the maximum eight years before moving to the Florida Senate and then Congress. As the only Jewish Republican in the Florida Legislature, his colleagues nicknamed him “The Hebrew Hammer” for his work opposing antisemitism. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. Trump endorsed him for reelection in October, calling him a “MAGA Warrior” on Truth Social. Fine’s campaign has noted he is the only person Trump has endorsed three times in the past two years.
Fine has been a controversial figure throughout his political career. He has called Representative Ilhan Omar, a Michigan Democrat, a “Muslim terrorist,” compared New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and said dropping nuclear weapons on Gaza would be a bad idea only because “the fallout would drift into Israel.”
Who Is Dan Bilzerian?
Bilzerian, 45, of Las Vegas, is a social media personality, professional poker player, and Ignite International Brands founder who filed to run for Congress in Florida’s 6th District in April as a Republican. Born in Tampa on December 7, 1980, he served in the U.S. Navy from 1999 to 2003 before attending the University of Florida and pursuing professional poker. He gained mass online following on Instagram and X and is also an Armenian citizen.
Bilzerian’s campaign platform—published on his official website—includes proposals to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Federal Reserve, end all foreign aid, prosecute politicians for “dual loyalty,” and what he calls ending “Jewish Supremacy.” The ADL classifies “Jewish supremacy” as an antisemitic conspiracy framing that plays into longstanding tropes alleging Jewish people are responsible for global tragedies.
Bilzerian has questioned the death toll of the Holocaust and claimed Jewish people were responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He has called Fine a “fat Jew” and a “Jewish supremacist,” and told TMZ in April the term “antisemitic” is “made-up.” His campaign website states America “is being run into the ground by Jewish Special Interests,” among other antisemitic claims.
In an interview the same month with The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Bilzerian called Trump “a complete fraud, disaster, and a liar”—despite previously supporting him in 2016 and 2020. He told the outlet he believes the U.S. should “decouple from Israel completely” and called U.S. foreign aid to Israel “treason.”
Bilzerian said he would relocate to Florida if elected.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Weighs In
The dispute drew commentary from former GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has faced accusations of antisemitism throughout her time in Congress, posted on X that Fine’s targeting of Armenians was directly tied to his primary race.
“This is the ‘Armenian’ that Randy Fine is talking about when he says Armenians should not be in Congress,” she wrote. “Dan Bilzerian is also primarying Zionist First Randy Fine so naturally Randy said Armenians are antisemitic [sic].” Greene noted Armenia is 94 percent Christian and adopted Christianity as its state religion in 301 AD.
The Broader Race
Florida’s 6th Congressional District covers a large swath of northeast and central Florida, including Palm Coast, Volusia County, and parts of Marion, Putnam, Lake, St. Johns and Flagler Counties. The Republican primary features Fine, Bilzerian, Palm Coast City Councilman Charles Gambaro, and Lake County contractor Aaron Baker. Democrats Robert Cooper II, Jennifer Jenkins, Ronnie Murchinson-Rivera, and Eric Yonce are also running.
What Happens Next
The Republican primary on August 18 will be the next major test for both candidates, with Fine holding Trump’s endorsement and the institutional support of the GOP, and Bilzerian running as a self-styled outsider against what he calls the establishment.
—