{"id":54502,"date":"2025-08-11T04:03:01","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T12:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=54502"},"modified":"2025-08-11T04:03:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T12:03:01","slug":"gop-candidate-running-against-randy-fine-sides-with-mtg-on-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/11\/gop-candidate-running-against-randy-fine-sides-with-mtg-on-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Candidate Running Against Randy Fine Sides With MTG on Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aaron Baker is fed up. Specifically, he is fed up with a \u201cRepresentative\u201d who <a href=\"https:\/\/floridapolitics.com\/archives\/729511-desantis-fine-trump-cd6\/\">does not live in the district he represents <\/a>and is so focused on supporting Israel, that even AIPAC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/liveblog_entry\/aipac-appears-to-drop-endorsement-of-gop-lawmaker-who-called-to-starve-away-until-hostages-freed\/\">seemingly stopped endorsing him<\/a> for his radicalism. Randy Fine, the Floridian Representative in question, has been widely condemned for openly cheerleading for genocide in Palestine. In a recent interview on Breaking Points, Baker was asked about Rep. Fine and used the opportunity to describe him as a man of poor character whose extreme positions make him unfit for office (watch the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tmMq9ww4Hks&amp;t=3s\">full exchange<\/a> below).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tmMq9ww4Hks?si=v_BdLbSFG9xizyjK\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Randy Fine, who told Palestinian children to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepFine\/status\/1947635219869139083\">starve away<\/a>, has been condemned by fellow Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. Now, Aaron Baker <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/cgi-bin\/forms\/H6FL06324\/1883334\/\">is challenging<\/a> Rep. Fine for the Republican nomination for Florida\u2019s 6th Congressional District.<\/p>\n<p>After discovering his campaign while scrolling through X, I had a few questions. What I wanted to know most was how this potential Representative differed from Rep. Fine on foreign policy. <a href=\"https:\/\/aaron4fl6.com\/policy\">Looking at his website<\/a>, it is clear that Aaron Baker wants peace between Israel and neighboring countries, but also believes Israel has a right to \u201cself-defense\u201d. Many politicians use the \u201cIsrael\u2019s self-defense\u201d narrative as a cover for pro-Israel extremism. However, Baker has been extremely critical of Israel and Rep. Fine\u2019s closeness with Israel and the Israel Lobby. Therefore, I found it appropriate to reach out to Baker for a few clarification questions on his foreign policy views. He gave permission to publish his beliefs in his own words, and I found his responses both interesting and promising.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-54508\" src=\"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"498\" height=\"259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture1-300x156.png 300w, https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture1-480x250.png 480w, https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture1.png 498w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 498px) 100vw, 498px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Baker\u2019s 2026 campaign for Florida\u2019s Congressional District 6 marks his second primary race against Randy Fine. In the 2025 special election in the district, Baker <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Aaron_Baker_(Florida)\">received 14%<\/a> of the vote with very few donors or media coverage. Now, in the later months of 2025, much has changed on the US political right. For starters, influential conservatives like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon, who were both friendlier to Israel in previous decades, have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/tucker-carlson-steve-bannon-maga-trump-iran-israel-war-2086346\">become critics<\/a> of the Netanyahu government and, especially, its Iran war. As discontent for Israel on the right has grown in popularity and importance, it is vital to give a voice to outsider candidates like Baker who have differing opinions from the GOP establishment. This is especially true for candidates who have the potential to accrue thousands of votes in primary elections. Baker may even be able to unseat Rep. Fine in 2026 which would prove that it is possible to beat AIPAC in GOP primaries.<\/p>\n<p>I asked Baker several questions that I believe matter deeply to anti-war voters.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-54509\" src=\"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"391\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture2-300x232.png 300w, https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture2.png 391w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 391px) 100vw, 391px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While I thought that I would likely receive a standard reply, Baker went into detail about what he believed.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-54510\" src=\"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"381\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture3-300x235.png 300w, https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture3.png 381w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 381px) 100vw, 381px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Not only did he say that he would have voted for MTG\u2019s resolution to <a href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/greene-israel\/\">block 500 million in additional military aid<\/a> to Israel, he also condemned Israel\u2019s actions as genocide and, presumably, condemned Randy Fine as a supporter of genocide. Such a critique of Israel is rare even in Israel-skeptic GOP circles. However, defensive weapons still help Israel as every dollar we spend on defensive weapons for Israel, Israel can use to fund its genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-54511\" src=\"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"465\" height=\"293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture4-300x189.png 300w, https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2025\/08\/Picture4.png 465w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 465px) 100vw, 465px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While I am not sure how a peaceful Palestine without Hamas can possibly exist while Israel is committing genocide, the answer is more pressure on Israel which Baker seems to understand. Hamas has already stated that it will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/world\/hamas-ready-cede-control-gaza-official-says-rcna194042\">step down and relinquish power<\/a> if Israel allows for the Palestinian people to have their own independent state. While I and likely most anti-war voters are not fully satisfied with Baker\u2019s answer, he certainly understands that the solution is greater leverage on Israel. Unfortunately, not all Republican candidates are a Thomas Massie or an MTG.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, it is up to the Republican voters of Florida\u2019s 6th Congressional District to decide who represents them better. On one side, we have an Israel First radical who spends his time in Israel instead of in his congressional district (which he doesn\u2019t even live in). On the other hand, we have an America First candidate who rejects Israeli influence over politics. This race presents an overall question that the American right will have to reckon with: how can conservatives and right-wing populists back a nation whose interests run counter to the United States?<\/p>\n<p><em>J.D. Hester is an independent writer born and raised in Arizona. He has previously written for Antiwar.com, Front Porch Republic, and CounterCurrents.org. You can send him an email at <\/em><a href=\"mailto:josephdhester@gmail.com\"><em>josephdhester@gmail.com<\/em><\/a><em>. Follow him on X <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JDH3ster\"><em>@JDH3ster<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aaron Baker is fed up. Specifically, he is fed up with a \u201cRepresentative\u201d who does not live in the district he represents and is so focused on supporting Israel, that even AIPAC seemingly stopped endorsing him for his radicalism. Randy Fine, the Floridian Representative in question, has been widely condemned for openly cheerleading for genocide [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":629,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1016],"class_list":["post-54502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/629"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54502"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54514,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54502\/revisions\/54514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54502"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=54502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}