Matt Gaetz is out of the running for attorney general. He’s also out of a job on Capitol Hill. In Washington and Tallahassee, the question now is: Could he be back in the House in January?
The Florida Republican resigned both from his current term and preemptively from his term in the next Congress, which he just won in the November election.
“I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress,” he wrote in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson that was also transmitted to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
One thing’s clear: He can’t come back for this Congress. But if Gaetz would like to return to Capitol Hill in January and serve in the seat his Florida constituents elected him to in November, the Hill seems prepared to punt that decision to DeSantis and Florida’s secretary of state, Cord Byrd.
A congressional aide indicated that Gaetz’s membership status for the 119th Congress is effectively up to his home state, telling POLITICO: “The official roll for the 119th Congress will be prepared with the Certificates of Election received from the States.”
The names provided by Florida of candidates who were “regularly elected” to the House under the state and federal laws will be eligible to take their seats in January, the aide continued.
Gaetz has not yet said publicly what he wants to do. And he did not respond to questions from POLITICO about what his future might hold.
But if he wants to come back to the Hill, he may argue his assertion that he won’t serve in the new Congress may be conditional: He specified that he wouldn’t take the oath “to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump Administration,” which is now off the table.
This could put the spotlight on DeSantis — and Byrd, his appointee — on how they want to handle it. Notably, a special election has not yet been scheduled to fill Gaetz’s seat.
Gaetz was once tight with DeSantis, and played a key role in his first transition team back in 2018. But Gaetz remained loyal to Trump during DeSantis’ bid for president — and that shifted the relationship.
Gaetz could possibly take his seat as normal, as if his resignation never happened. Or that special election could still happen — but nothing would stop Gaetz from running in it if he wanted to come back to Washington.
It’s also possible his political future isn’t in the House. Trump’s decision to pick Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of State will allow DeSantis to appoint someone to that plum position for the next two years, until the 2026 elections. DeSantis said he intends to name a successor by early January.
Gaetz is not considered a likely contender for the open Senate seat — but some of his allies have already floated him. And Gaetz has long been rumored to be considering a 2026 gubernatorial run, with DeSantis term-limited.
When reached by phone, Don Gaetz, a Florida state senator and Matt Gaetz’s father, said he had not had a “substantive conversation” with his son following his decision to drop his bid for attorney general and did not know whether he would attempt a return to Congress. He did add that, “I love my son and I’m proud of him.”
Several candidates had already announced their intent to run in the younger Gaetz’s 1st District, a safe Republican seat. But they may show him deference.
Republican state Rep. Michelle Salzman, who already announced a run, told POLITICO after the news broke that she immediately reached out to Gaetz to tell him she would “fully support whatever he wants” and would “absolutely” withdraw from the race if Gaetz wanted to return to Congress.
Other Republicans who’d filed to run or said they planned to include state Rep. Joel Rudman and Bernadette Pittman, the owner and CEO of Boots on the Ground Bikers for Trump. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis had also considered running, which would necessitate DeSantis appointing his replacement.