House Democrats are considering a forced vote to censure Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., Axios reported.
Fine has faced blowback, including on the right, after he posted on social media, "If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one."
"I usually hate censure resolutions against members, but I've never seen someone deserve one more," Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said in a post on social media.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he told the Congressional Progressive Caucus that Fine must be censured.
"We cannot stand idly by as Muslim Americans are described as less than dogs by a sitting member," Khanna said to Axios. "Many of my colleagues feel similarly."
Fine defended his post in an appearance on Newsmax.
"It's not enough for Democrats to think anyone who wants to come here illegally should be able to do that," the Florida Republican said on "Wake Up America." "They also think they should be able to get whatever free stuff they want, and now, they're demanding that we change our values and how we live as Americans."
Fine was responding to a post from Nerdeen Kiswani, co-founder of the pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetime, in which she called dogs "unclean" and wrote that "NYC is coming to Islam."
Kiswani later told NBC News that the comment was "satire" tied to a local debate about dog waste after a snowstorm and that she was "satirizing Islamophobic hysteria portraying [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani's mayoralty as a societal takeover."
Other Democrats have urged House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to publicly rebuke Fine and remove him from committees.
Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, said censuring Fine would be giving him what he wants.
"Ricky, or whatever his name is, just wants the attention. He says obscene, hateful things for attention," Landsman said to Axios. "Unfortunately, Congress has a few attention-seekers."
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has not said if he supports censuring Fine but condemned his comments.
"Republican leaders must hold this so-called member of Congress accountable," Jeffries said.
"House Democrats will not let the racist and bigoted behavior of Randy Fine go unchecked," Jeffries added. "Accountability is coming to all of these sick extremists when the gavels change hands in November, if not sooner."
Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly got into a social media spat with Fine over the post.
"wtf is this," Kelly wrote.
"Figured it out yet," Fine replied.
"What I figured out, you pathetic sweaty man, is when an idiot Muslim says 'no dogs in NYC,' instead of attacking the person or the policy, you went full bigot. F*** off," Kelly wrote.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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