Ex-Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins has abandoned a short-lived plan to run for U.S. Congress in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to endorse Randy Fine for the seat instead. Mullins said on November 15th that he’d run in the 2025 special election to replace Michael Waltz, who is resigning as Trump’s National Security Advisor.
Mullins was among the first candidates with prior elected experience to announce they’d pursue a seat representing Florida’s 6th congressional district and, in the absence of many opponents, seemed a potentially viable candidate if for nothing more than his avid support of Trump and past ability to largely self-fund his campaigns. The entries of Waltz’s District Director Ernie Audino and then Florida Senator Randy Fine decidedly relegated Mullins to long-shot status. Audino has also confirmed his exit from the race in the light of Trump’s endorsement of Fine.
“As many of you guys know I was asked by a lot [of people] to run for Congress,” Mullins said, not specifying who had beckoned him to do so.
“President Trump has asked for us to look to a different direction with someone else that he needs support from. […] I’m officially getting behind Randy Fine, who President Trump endorsed, and asked to help fight the battles that he has got facing this country.”
Mullins went on to say that he’d potentially be working in Trump’s transition team, and promised to ‘come back at the media’ in 2025. He specifically named FlaglerLive, the local outlet who has reportedly critically on Mullins and drawn his ire and insults repeatedly over the years.
The Race at a Glance
In a video posted to Facebook announcing his decision on Friday, Mullins declared that he’d be supporting Fine’s campaign since that was what Trump decided to do. Other Republicans who’ve declared to run include Marion County School Board member Don Browning, Air Force veteran Steve Rance, and Palm Coast resident Alexandra Van Cleef. No Democrats have been conclusively linked to the race, with only Randall Terry with the Constitution Party having entered to oppose the Republicans. A partisan primary will take place on January 28th, followed by a general election on April 1st.
Fine received a rush of high-profile Republican endorsements before and after announcing his candidacy, including Trump, Senator Rick Scott, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer. Fine’s tenure in the state legislature has been marked by his hawkish support of Israel in their war against Hamas, and bills he pushed to ban drag performances where children could be around and to sanction Walt Disney World in retaliation for their opposition to Florida Republicans’ social agenda.
Mullins’ Controversy in Flagler County
Joe Mullins was first elected to the Flagler County Commission in 2018, ousting incumbent Nate McLaughlin. His tenure made him the county’s most controversial elected official, with numerous behavioral and procedural incidents consistently outshining his actual performance on the Board. Mullins helped organize a busload of Flagler residents to attend the January 6th, 2021 U.S. Capitol protests, before departing as it evolved into a riot seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. He derided colleagues on the Commission at times profanely, though he was eventually voted Commission Chair by that same body.
Mullins’ local reputation again hemorrhaged during his 2022 re-election campaign, when it was alleged that he’d let residential properties of his in Augusta, Georgia fall into severe malaise. Most publicly, he was ticketed twice for speeding, in one telling a Florida Highway Patrol trooper “I run the county” during the stop. That incident brought international scrutiny upon Flagler County as it went viral online. He’d been stopped for allegedly driving 92 miles per hour in a 70 zone.
In the August 2022 Republican primary election Mullins lost decisively to Leann Pennington, who won 68.8% of the vote over Mullins and then went on to win the general election in November. Since then, Mullins has stayed visible by buying out a recurring broadcast slot on WNZF for ‘Live, Work, Shop, Play, in Florida’, his political talk radio segment. His short-lived congressional bid was his first move toward public office since being voted out in 2022.
This fool is still around? “As many of you guys know I was asked by a lot [of people] to run for Congress,” Mullins said, not specifying who had beckoned him to do so. Hey Joe, you can not consider your immediate family A lot of people. But what do you consider a lot of people, more than 5 and less than 15? They are not people from Flagler County because if they were, you would still have you seat on the commission. Because you use to run this county, remember? NOT. Go back to the Carolina and stop lying to the people of Florida.