Joel Rudman becomes second state lawmaker to announce bid to succeed Matt Gaetz in Congress

Joel Rudman with wife Sophie. Photo via Rudman.

State Rep. Joel Rudman will run for Congress in former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz’s open seat.

The Navarre Republican counts himself as a close ally of Gaetz, who has represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District since his election in 2016. Gaetz resigned his seat after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for Attorney General.

“The people here have had very good representation and they don’t want any knockoffs,” Rudman said. “They don’t want people without a backbone. They want someone who can stand strong and stand firm and take those arrows. The way I see it, I’m the heir apparent to that. I carry on the legacy that Matt has left for us.”

Located in the Panhandle and anchored by Pensacola, the district is one of the state’s most conservative. Gaetz was elected to the seat in 2016, winning more than 69% of the vote. This year, he secured re-election with 66% of the vote. CD 1 is overwhelmingly conservative, with more than 53% of the electorate registered as a Republican, according to the most recent L2 voter data. Only 22% of the district’s voters are registered as Democrats.

Rudman first won election to the Florida House in 2022 after winning a Republican Primary over Mariya Calkins in the heavily Republican House District 3. He won re-election to a second term in November, and attended the Organizational Session held on Tuesday.

Rudman said it was after the day’s events that he made the final decision to run for Congress, a move that will require his resignation from the Florida House if he wins or loses.

“I made the decision at a Republican meeting. I looked around the room, and let me just say that Florida is in good hands,” he said. “The future of Florida looks bright.”

Rudman first ran for office when his positions on COVID prompted people to challenge his medical license. In the Legislature, he helped pass a “medical freedom” law that he said now combines “the rights of medical conscience with the rights of physicians’ freedom of speech.”

Rudman has also testified on gun rights at a field hearing hosted by Gaetz in the Panhandle. And he introduced Gaetz at the Congressman’s campaign kickoff before his successful re-election this year.

The two Republican politicians also spoke together at a July 4 Second Amendment rally at Gulf Coast Gun & Outdoors in Milton. While Gaetz was the headliner there, Rudman publicly accepted the Gun Owners of America’s Florida Legislator of the Year Award at the event.

Rudman also said his daughter attends the College of William and Mary, Gaetz’s law school alma mater, and was recently banned from the school’s Facebook page for suggesting Gaetz be invited as a commencement speaker there.

“Matt is obviously well respected and loved here in the Panhandle,” Rudman said. “It’s going to be huge shoes to fill. It’s going to be impossible to fill those shoes, but I think I can certainly carry on the conservative tradition. And look, we’re not going to take any guff from anybody.”