Jacob Ogles
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz easily won another term in the U.S. House representing Florida’s 1st Congressional District, with the Fort Walton Beach Republican defeating Democrat Gay Valimont in the deep red district.
Shortly after polls closed in the Florida Panhandle, Gaetz up with more than 66% of the vote over of Valimont with early and most vote-by-mail votes counted.
Gaetz, for his part, had expressed confidence voters wanted him in office despite years of tension with House leadership and years of personal scandals.
He remains under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, whose leaders in June said they were looking into accusations of sexual misconduct, drug use and the potential granting of favors to romantic interests.
But Gaetz has been under scrutiny for personal accusations for a long time. Last year, federal prosecutors informed he would face no criminal charges related to a two-year sex trafficking investigation stemming from a probe of former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg’s litany of crimes.
Marred by controversy and scandal while frequently irritating even Republican leaders in the House, Valimont said it’s a matter of time before someone shows Gaetz the door out of the U.S. House, regardless of the action of voters.
“Watch for him to be expelled in November or December sparking a Special Election,” Valimont said ahead of the election. “We are also prepared for that.”
Gaetz scoffed at Valimont’s prediction of his professional doom.
“It’s quite the historic prediction,” he said. “Congress has only expelled two groups of people in American history: those who have been charged with crimes, and those who joined the confederacy during the civil war. I’m in neither group.”
Asked why voters should retain him for a fifth term in Washington, he said simply: “I fight for them.”
A Niceville High School graduate, and the son of former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz (who also on Tuesday won a return trip to the state Senate), the younger Gaetz has a long history of advocating for the region. He served in the Florida House before his 2016 election to Congress. In Washington, he helped this year to secure $240 million in the House budget for military operations in the Panhandle, along with $191 million for new Defense Department construction.
Elected to Congress the same year Donald Trump won the presidency, Gaetz quickly forged a relationship with the Republican leader, something he said will pay dividends if Trump wins a second term in the White House on Nov. 5.
Valimont, a gun violence prevention activist with Moms Demand Action, has been politically involved for years. She recently lost both her husband and son to health issues and was a prime caretaker for each.
She criticized Gaetz for largely being absent from the campaign trail, but Gaetz represents a relative safe seat. As of Oct. 11, Republicans registered in the district outnumber Democrats by more than 184,000 votes.
And as of Oct. 16, Gaetz reported $735,000 in cash on hand, while Valimont had less than $65,000.
Much of Gaetz’s war chest went into defeating a Republican Primary opponent, Aaron Dimmock, who had been vetted by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Gaetz in 2023 led an ouster of McCarthy as Speaker, marking the first time the House has removed a presiding officer in U.S. history. While that prompted wide anger within the House Republican caucus, Gaetz won his Primary at home with more than 71% of the vote.
Gaetz also notably has tried to clean up his act publicly in recent years. After the Greenberg scandal threatened his career in 2021, Gaetz married Ginger Luckey. He’s now rumored as a candidate for Governor.
He has previously shot down speculation about 2026, saying he was focused instead on his work in the House. But with the General Election now done, discussion will rapidly turn in Florida to who will seek statewide office in the coming Midterms.
