Matt Gaetz is now hinting that he plans to run to succeed Ron DeSantis as Florida's governor
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
- Matt Gaetz withdrew from his attorney general bid on Thursday.
- But he's since hinted on X at a possible 2026 Florida governor run.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis of Floria terms out in 2026.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz's bid for attorney general may have been short-lived, but he appears to have his sights set on another big career move.
In a Saturday tweet, Florida State Rep. Anthony Sabatini posted on X his prediction that Gaetz would be the next governor of Florida. Gaetz responded to Sabatini with a gif of the Florida state flag.
Gaetz resigned from Congress in November after President-elect Donald Trump had tapped him for attorney general.
But that bid soon soured when Gaetz became embroiled in fresh scandal, including new developments in a long-running sex-trafficking investigation against him. The DOJ declined to pursue charges against Gaetz in 2023, but the House Ethics Committee continued probing the allegations.
CNN reported on Thursday that Gaetz withdrew from consideration shortly after they contacted him for comment regarding an accusation that he had a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old at a party in 2017.
Gaetz has denied wrongdoing in the sex-trafficking probe and the encounter. However, he withdrew himself from consideration for the attorney general post on Thursday afternoon.
"While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition," Gaetz wrote on X on Thursday.
After Gaetz withdrew, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he appreciated Gaetz's "efforts."
"He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect," Trump wrote.
"Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!" Trump added.
Meanwhile in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis terms out in 2026. DeSantis, once a Trump protége, got on his former boss's bad side when he started running a short-lived, Elon-Musk-backed presidential race against Trump.
Florida has had a continuous slate of Republican governors since Jeb Bush won his gubernatorial race in 1998.
It's unclear what Gaetz's chances will look like in 2026 if he were to run for governor. But Gaetz is now in the market for a new gig — he said last week that he doesn't intend to rejoin the 119th Congress, to which he was elected in November to represent Florida's 1st congressional district.
"I'm still going to be in the fight, but it's going to be from a new perch," Gaetz told conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk last week.
"It seems like a pretty poetic time to allow that great new blood to come in, to allow my district to have high-quality representation," Gaetz said, adding that he's not going off on a "tropical excursion" for the rest of his life.
For now, he seems to be enjoying some downtime — fishing, spending time with his wife, Ginger, and making some bucks filming videos on Cameo like his former colleague, George Santos.
Gaetz did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.