Matt Gaetz, the former U.S. representative turned conservative cable host, may not be done with politics.
Weeks after the release of a congressional report on sexual misconduct allegations against Gaetz, the former U.S. representative said he’s “starting to think about running for governor” in 2026.
Chief among Gaetz’s stated policy concerns? The insurance crisis.
“I have a compelling vision for the state,” Gaetz said. “I understand how to fix the insurance problem, and it’s not to hand the keys to the state over to the insurance industry. If I run, I would be the most pro-consumer candidate on the Republican side.”
With the election 22 months out, Gaetz said he needs more time to pray about whether to seek Florida’s highest office and more time to discuss it with his wife, Ginger.
But Gaetz openly mulling a run is nonetheless noteworthy.
He is one of the most popular figures among the MAGA base. His support for economic populism and cannabis legalization — to say nothing of his personal controversies — would make him a unique Republican candidate.
He’s also one of the most reviled Republicans in the country by Democrats. When he got Trump’s nod to serve as attorney general, Florida Democratic Party chairperson Nikki Fried called Gaetz a “chaos agent who cares about nothing but his own personal power.”
Gaetz has been rumored to be mulling a run for governor for some time.
A former Panhandle-area state representative who was first elected to Congress in 2016, Gaetz won few friends in Washington, even among his own party. In the final days of his last term, the House Ethics Committee voted to release a damning report that found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz used illegal drugs; accepted gifts outside of allowable limits; paid women for sex and had sex with a 17-year-old girl during the time he served in Congress.
The U.S. Department of Justice investigated Gaetz for sex trafficking before ultimately deciding not to charge him in 2023.
The rumors related to the ethics report almost certainly toppled his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to be U.S. attorney general. When he posted to X withdrawing his name from consideration in November, Gaetz said his candidacy for attorney general was “unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
But Gaetz said he doesn’t see the findings as an impediment to a potential run for governor.
“Those lies have been told about me for years,” he said. “They’ve never affected my ability to win elections.”
Gaetz’s alleged personal shortcomings didn’t seem to bother Trump, the Republican standard bearer. Much about the ethics committee’s report was either known or the subject of substantial rumor when Trump picked Gaetz to serve as his attorney general.
Gaetz resigned his U.S. House seat after getting Trump’s nomination. He now hosts a political show on the cable network One America News.
Should Gaetz run, it’s not yet clear who would join him in the Republican ranks. Gov. Ron DeSantis is term-limited out.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody have each been rumored to be considering a run for the Republican nomination. (Moody is also widely seen as the top candidate to be DeSantis’ choice to succeed Marco Rubio in the Senate.)
Gaetz said he would view the Republican primary as the deciding race in the battle for who will lead Florida in 2026.
Some Floridians — i.e. Democrats — are simply not electable statewide, Gaetz said.
Kirby Wilson is a politics reporter, covering the leaders of Florida and explaining the political landscape. Reach him at kwilson@tampabay.com.
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