Matt Gaetz resigns from Congress after Attorney General nomination

Matt Gaetz. Image via AP.

After nearly eight years, Republican Matt Gaetz is a Congressman no more.

Mere hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced he was nominating Gaetz to serve as his Attorney General, the self-described “conservative firebrand” resigned his seat representing Florida’s 1st Congressional District.

During a Wednesday news conference, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Gaetz had stepped down “effective immediately.” He said the quick resignation was in “deference” to House lawmakers.

“That caught us by surprise a little bit, but I asked him what the reasoning was, and he said, ‘Well, you can’t have too many absences,’” Johnson said.

Johnson added that Florida law provides eight weeks to select and fill a vacant congressional seat. He said he’d already contacted Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is in Italy on a trade mission, to get the proverbial ball rolling.

“If we start the clock now … we may be able to fill that seat as early as Jan. 3, when we take the new oath of office for the new Congress,” he said. “Matt (did) us a great service by making that decision as he did on the fly, and so we’re grateful for that.”

Gaetz’s appointment is subject to Senate approval, and according to POLITICO, some GOP members of the chamber have said they doubt Gaetz will be confirmed due to pushback among party members.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican with a swing vote, said she didn’t consider Trump’s pick of Gaetz to be a “serious nomination.” U.S. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine said she was “shocked” by the move.

Other Senators were less forthright about how they felt, leaving their reticence to convey their unsaid feelings. John Cornyn of Texas “rolled his eyes,” POLITICO reported, while Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia turned down requests for comment.

If confirmed, Gaetz would take over the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), a federal agency with more than 100,000 employees and a plethora of investigative and law enforcement apparatuses, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Prisons, National Security Division, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, among many others.

Ironically, it would be the agency that investigated both him and Trump. Under President Joe Biden, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a probe in early 2021 into sex trafficking allegations against the lawmaker. The agency ended the probe in February 2023 and declined to charge Gaetz with any crimes.

A House Ethics Committee inquiry was still underway Wednesday into whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct or illegal drug use, and whether he granted special favors to romantic interests. Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Guest, who chairs the House Ethics Committee, told Fox News the panel’s investigation would end the second Gaetz was no longer a member of the chamber because “then Ethics has no jurisdiction.”

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and criticized the committee for continuing its investigation.

Several potential candidates have been floated to succeed Gaetz in CD 1, which spans the leftmost portion of the Florida Panhandle and includes all of Escambia, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties and part of Walton County. Among them: DeSantis’ Chief of Staff, James Uthmeier; Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward; and state Reps. Alex Andrade, Joel Rudman and Michelle Salzman.

Gaetz won re-election to CD 1 by a landslide this month, toppling Democrat Gay Valimont in the General Election with 66% of the vote and winning the Primary with 71% of the vote.

He is a graduate of William & Mary College of Law and the son of former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, who on Nov. 5 won a return trip to the chamber.