Influencer Dan Bilzerian is entering the world of politics.
Bilzerian, 45, filed paperwork to challenge Representative Randy Fine’s seat in Florida’s 6th congressional district on Tuesday, April 7, per Federal Election Commission records. Bilzerian is running as a Republican.
The social media star, whose Instagram boasts nearly 30 million followers, announced his intentions to seek office earlier this month.
“Yes, I’m running,” he told The Daytona Beach News-Journal in an April 1 statement. “Getting everything in order now.”
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Bilzerian further told the outlet that he would be “happy” to talk about the election “as soon as [he is] officially registered, which should be within a week at the latest.”
Bilzerian is known for his shirtless Instagram snaps, often depicting a partying lifestyle. He started sharing political commentary in 2024.
“I realized the whole hedonism thing wasn’t really my bag and wasn’t making me happy,” Bilzerian said on the “Modern Wisdom” podcast in August 2024. “I came to the realization, much like I came to the realization that money didn’t make me happy and then still chased money for a long time. I wanted to get off the hedonistic treadmill.”
The influencer added that he “went to the edge of the Earth” trying to chase wealth and lust.
“There was a point — I mean, there’s definitely a point, I was on a 300-foot yacht [with] 30 girls and I was like, ‘I should be stoked,’ and I wasn’t,” he said. “My energy was being sucked in a bunch of different directions. I just remember being way happier surfing with my buddies, doing a couple vacations [and] all the stuff that I had, kind of, done before.”
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While Bilzerian acknowledged that he had “fun” going on million-dollar global trips and attending blowout parties, he eventually found less joy in going out.
“I was already kind of over it from the realization that I was happier having a girlfriend than doing the harem thing,” he added. “Then, I felt kind of trapped because now I had a brand and now I kind of had to do it. It was almost like COVID saved me a little bit. … It’s a lot more fun when it’s your choice.”
Bilzerian continued, “I was a slave to my own creation for a while … because then I took the two years and wrote [my book The Setup] and zoomed out, looked at my life and things that made me happy and things that didn’t make me happy. That was pretty eye-opening.”