'Annoyed' Republicans dump on Trump-backed candidate in 'closer than expected' race

Randy Fine, the Trump-endorsed Florida Republican candidate running to replace current national security adviser Mike Waltz, is taking heat from some GOP operatives as he faces a race that is much closer than expected.

Politico reports that Republicans still believe they will prevail in the upcoming special election in Florida's 6th Congressional District, but they are having to devote far more resources toward keeping it red than they should have to, especially since President Donald Trump won the district by 30 points last year.

“We are annoyed but not worried,” one GOP operative told the publication. “Annoyed Fine hasn’t done jack s--- for himself and is counting on the ecosystem to bail him out.”

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Florida State Sen. Joe Gruters, an ally of Fine's, didn't publicly disparage his colleague or the campaign that he's running, but he did acknowledge that the race is a lot tighter than anticipated.

"Seems like it’s going to be a lot closer than people expected," he said.

At issue is the enormous fundraising disparity between Fine and Democratic opponent Josh Weil.

As Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman reported earlier this week, "Democrat Josh Weil raised $9M and has $1.2M on hand," whereas "Republican Randy Fine raised $987,759 and has $92,693 on hand."

He described this as an "enormous cash disparity."