Matt Gaetz facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Matt Gaetz
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Official portrait, 2020
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 1st district |
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| Assumed office January 3, 2017 |
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| Preceded by | Jeff Miller |
| Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 4th district |
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| In office April 13, 2010 – November 8, 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Ray Sansom |
| Succeeded by | Mel Ponder |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Matthew Louis Gaetz II
May 7, 1982 Hollywood, Florida, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Ginger Luckey
(m. 2021) |
| Parent | Don Gaetz (father) |
| Relatives | Palmer Luckey (brother-in-law) |
| Education | Florida State University (BS) College of William & Mary (JD) |
Matthew Louis Gaetz II (/ɡeɪts/ gates; born May 7, 1982) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 1st congressional district since 2017. The district includes all of Escambia, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa counties, and portions of Walton County. A member of the Republican Party, he is widely regarded as a staunch proponent of far-right politics as well as an ally of former president Donald Trump.
The son of prominent Florida politician Don Gaetz and grandson of North Dakota politician Jerry Gaetz, Gaetz was raised in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. After graduating from the William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia, he briefly worked in private practice before running for state representative. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2010 until 2016, and received national attention for defending Florida's controversial "stand-your-ground law". In 2016, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and was reelected in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
In October 2023, Gaetz filed a motion to vacate which led to the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Contents
Early life and career
Matthew Louis Gaetz II was born on May 7, 1982, in Hollywood, Florida, to Victoria (née Quertermous) and Don Gaetz, who later became a prominent local politician.
He grew up near Fort Walton Beach, and graduated from Niceville High School. He graduated from Florida State University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in interdisciplinary sciences, and from the William & Mary Law School in 2007 with a Juris Doctor. Gaetz was admitted to the Florida Bar on February 6, 2008.
Gaetz's father represented parts of northwest Florida as a member of the Florida State Senate from 2006 to 2016, and was Senate president from 2012 to 2014. Gaetz's grandfather, Jerry Gaetz, was the mayor of Rugby, North Dakota, and a candidate for lieutenant governor of North Dakota at the 1964 North Dakota Republican Party state convention, where he died of a heart attack.
After graduating from William & Mary Law School, Gaetz worked at the law firm Keefe, Anchors & Gordon (now AnchorsGordon) in Fort Walton Beach. In October 2021, the Florida bar suspended Gaetz from practicing law due to unpaid fees.
Florida House of Representatives
In March 2010, after Republican state representative Ray Sansom's resignation on corruption charges in February 2010, Gaetz ran in the special election to succeed Sansom in the 4th district, which included southern Santa Rosa County and Okaloosa County. In a crowded Republican primary that included Craig Barker, Kabe Woods, Jerry G. Melvin, and Bill Garvie, Gaetz won with 43 percent of the vote. In the special general election, Gaetz defeated Democratic nominee Jan Fernald with 66 percent of the vote. During his campaign, Gaetz received almost $480,000 in contributions, about five times more than anyone else in the field, and almost 50 times more than Fernald, including $100,000 of his own money.
Gaetz was unopposed for a full term in 2010. In 2012, following the reconfiguration of Florida House of Representatives districts, Gaetz's district no longer contained any of Santa Rosa County. He was reelected unopposed in 2012 and 2014.
While serving in the state house, Gaetz and state senator Joe Negron proposed legislation that would hasten the execution of many inmates on Florida's death row by requiring the governor to sign a death warrant for those who had exhausted their appeals. He also joined state senator Greg Evers in proposing legislation to eliminate the federal ethanol content mandate that 10 percent of gasoline sold in Florida contain ethanol; Governor Rick Scott signed the legislation in May 2013.
Florida House speaker Will Weatherford announced that he would order hearings on the stand-your-ground law. Gaetz, the chairman of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee, was tasked with reviewing the legislation; he announced before hearings that he would not support changing "one comma", but said he would listen to both sides' testimony. After the hearings, he authored legislation to allow defendants who successfully used a stand-your-ground defense during trial to be able to expunge relevant information from their criminal records.
When his subcommittee was considering legislation that would keep suspects' mugshots off the Internet until their convictions, Gaetz brought up his 2008 arrest and non-conviction, arguing that his mistakes made him who he is and that publicly available mugshots "could be a problem for those unaccustomed to publicity".
In 2015, Gaetz supported the presidential campaign of Jeb Bush. Bush emailed Gaetz about introducing a bill to change the 2016 Florida Republican presidential primary to an earlier date in order to benefit Bush, Florida's former governor. Don Gaetz, then the president of the Florida Senate, also endorsed Bush, along with several other members of Florida's state legislature.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
In 2013, Gaetz announced that, in 2016, he would run for the 1st district State Senate seat held by his father, Don Gaetz, who was term-limited in 2016. On March 21, 2016, Gaetz withdrew from the race, choosing instead to run for the U.S. House seat representing Florida's 1st congressional district; the incumbent, Jeff Miller, had announced 11 days earlier that he would not seek reelection.
On August 30, 2016, Gaetz won the Republican primary with 35.7 percent of the vote to Greg Evers's 21.5 percent and Cris Dosev's 20.6 percent, along with five other candidates. This virtually assured Gaetz of victory in the general election; with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+22, the 1st is Florida's most Republican district, and one of the most Republican in the nation.
In the November 8 general election, Gaetz defeated Democratic nominee Steven Specht with 69 percent of the vote. He is only the seventh person to represent this district since 1933 (the district was numbered the 3rd before 1963).
Though a financial disclosure form Gaetz filed in 2016 showed a net worth of $388,000, he donated $200,000 of his own money to his congressional campaign. He also resigned from two Florida House political action committees he had started and chaired; the PACs closed down and transferred $380,000 to a federal super PAC, North Florida Neighbors, whose purpose was to support Gaetz's congressional campaign.
Tenure
On September 25, 2016, following the death of Miami Marlins pitcher José Fernández, Gaetz criticized the athletes protesting during the national anthem in a tweet.
Gaetz was listed as a member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership from at least January to June 2017.
Gaetz served as a top campaign adviser to Ron DeSantis during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign. He managed debate preparations and "drafted early administration organizational charts, helped steer early policy decisions and played a huge role in DeSantis' appointments", according to Politico.
In January 2018, Gaetz invited alt-right Holocaust denier Charles C. Johnson to attend Donald Trump's State of the Union address. Johnson previously raised money for the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer. Gaetz defended Johnson in an interview, saying that Johnson was neither a Holocaust denier nor a white supremacist.
In April 2019, Gaetz hired Darren Beattie as a speechwriter. Beattie had previously been fired as a speechwriter for the Trump administration after attending a conference associated with white nationalists.
Gaetz attended political rallies in 2018 and 2019 in which members of the Proud Boys attended.
After the 2020 State of the Union Address, Gaetz filed an ethics complaint against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, claiming she had committed a "flagrant violation of decorum" and perhaps broken the law by ripping up her copy of the speech.
In February 2020, Gaetz announced that he would no longer accept campaign contributions from federal political action committees.
On January 10, 2021, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy complained on a phone call that Gaetz was unnecessarily "putting people in jeopardy", noting that the rioters at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 "came prepared with rope". The conversation was reported in April 2022.
In 2021, Gaetz and Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene began a nationwide "America First Tour" on May 7, in The Villages, Florida. During the tour, Gaetz and Greene repeated debunked claims of fraud in the 2020 election, attacked Big Tech and, at one event, claimed that the Second Amendment was for "maintaining, within the citizenry, the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government, if that becomes necessary." As a consequence of the controversy the speakers had generated, their appearance at a conference site at Laguna Hills, in Orange County, California, was canceled.
In June 2021, Gaetz was one of 21 House Republicans to vote against a resolution to give the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
In February 2023, Gaetz invited Corey Ryan Beekman to lead the pledge of allegiance at a Judiciary Committee hearing. Beekman was charged with murder in 2019 in Michigan, and the victim's family criticized the invitation. Gaetz apologized to the family.
In October 2023, Gaetz introduced a successful resolution to oust McCarthy from his role as speaker of the House after McCarthy worked with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown.
2023 speakership election
In the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans regained a narrow House majority. Although sitting minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sought the speakership and had the support of 213 members, he needed five more votes to reach a majority to be elected. Certain members of the Freedom Caucus, including Gaetz, could contribute the required margin. Democrats held 212 votes, with one seat unfilled due to the November death of a holdover incumbent. The anti-McCarthy members withheld more than four votes through 14 ballots. They were thought to be holding out for substantial concessions regarding House rules and committee chair assignments. Their withholding of votes prevented McCarthy earning a majority of votes needed for the speakership. Thirteen months earlier, Gaetz had discussed with former president Trump the possibility of getting Trump elected to the speakership, for which House membership is not required. Gaetz nominated him once and voted for Trump on the 7th, 8th and 11th ballots. After midnight, January 7, on the 15th and last ballot, Gaetz switched his vote to "present", lowering the number of votes McCarthy needed and allowing him to win the speakership.
Committee assignments
For the 118th Congress:
- Committee on Armed Services
- Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation
- Subcommittee on Military Personnel
- Committee on the Judiciary
- Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance
- Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust
- Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government
Caucus memberships
- Freedom Caucus
- Republican Study Committee
Political positions
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Gaetz has self-identified as a libertarian populist. His views have also been described as nationalist.
In September 2022, on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast, Gaetz said that Republicans should prioritize "impeachment inquiries" against Democrats "to investigate them and to hold them accountable" if Republicans win control of the House in the November 2022 midterm elections. He went on: "it should be investigations [of Democrats] first—[and] policy, bill-making, to support the lobbyists and the PACs, as a far, far diminished priority".
Donald Trump
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On February 23, 2017, worried about protesters disrupting his appearance at his town hall in Pace, Florida, Gaetz prepared what his staffers called a nonverbal town hall. He printed out part of his speech onto giant boards that he would hold up if he was unable to speak. Gaetz arrived 30 minutes late to the meeting, where at least 500 constituents crowded into a bowling alley. At the meeting, he was questioned about his relationship with Trump, his stance on repealing the Affordable Care Act, and his proposal to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency. He said that Trump should release his tax returns, but stopped short of saying Congress should subpoena them. Gaetz closed his town hall by shouting Trump's 2016 campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again".
In April 2018, Politico called Gaetz "one of the most enthusiastic defenders of President Trump on cable news" and a "proud Trump protégé". Aaron Blake of The Washington Post called him one of Congress' "most controversial members", and one who has "unabashedly aligned himself with Trump on basically all things."
In May 2018, Gaetz was one of 18 House Republicans to vote to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in peace talks with North Korea.
Appearing on The View in February 2020, shortly before Trump associate Roger Stone was sentenced, Gaetz said he would support a pardon for Stone.
Gaetz is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, but not of the Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, or Oversight and Reform Committees, and so was not allowed to join lawmakers' closed-door deposition of former White House Russia aide Fiona Hill in October 2019. He told reporters that, since his committee oversees impeachment, he should have been allowed to be part of depositions related to the Trump impeachment inquiry.
On April 6, The New York Times reported that during the final weeks of Trump's presidency, Gaetz privately asked the White House for a blanket pardon for himself and some unknown congressional allies for any crimes they may have committed. The White House reportedly never seriously considered the request because it was decided that issuing preemptive pardons would set a bad precedent. The Times also reported that aides had told Trump of the request. On April 7, Trump denied that Gaetz had asked him for a pardon and noted that Gaetz "totally denied the accusations against him". On April 8, it was revealed that Trump had reportedly wanted to defend Gaetz, but that his advisors talked him out of it due to the seriousness of the allegations.
Mueller investigation
In November 2017, Gaetz introduced a congressional resolution calling for Robert Mueller to recuse himself as special counsel because of what were said to be conflicts of interest. He also asked for a special counsel investigation into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's handling of the Hillary Clinton email controversy, undue interference by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the investigation, and the Russian state corporation Rosatom's acquisition of Uranium One during Mueller's time as FBI director. Gaetz said he did not trust Mueller to lead the investigation because of Mueller's alleged involvement in approval of the Uranium One deal and alleged close relationship with dismissed FBI director James Comey, a probable person of interest in a proposed new investigation.
During Mueller's testimony to two congressional committees on July 24, 2019, Gaetz told him, "if Russians were lying to Christopher Steele to undermine our confidence in our newly elected president, that would be precisely in your purview because you stated in your opening that the organizing principle was to fully and thoroughly investigate Russian interference. But you weren't interested in whether the Russians interfered through Steele—and if Steele was lying, then you should have charged him with lying like you charged a variety of other people."
First impeachment of Donald Trump
In October 2019, Gaetz organized a "storming" of a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility on Capitol Hill by about two dozen Republican congressmen, including House minority whip Steve Scalise, in an effort to sit in on and hear the deposition of a Pentagon official during the impeachment inquiry against Trump. The congressmen's cell phones and other devices put the secure facility, and U.S. national security, at risk.
One committee member said, "It was the closest thing I've seen around here to mass civil unrest as a member of Congress." House Homeland Security Committee chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi wrote to the House sergeant-at-arms about Gaetz and others, requesting that he take action regarding their "unprecedented breach of security". Ohio representative Jim Jordan said, "The members have just had it, and they want to be able to see and represent their constituents and find out what's going on." A day later, Jordan appeared on Fox News to justify the intrusion, saying of the chair of the committee: "Adam Schiff is doing this unfair, partisan process in secret and our members finally said, 'Enough'. We're so frustrated. They reached a boiling point and these guys marched in and said we want to know what's going on." In the 116th Congress, Pelosi, who is a committee member ex officio, appointed Schiff and 12 Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, also an ex officio member, appointed the ranking member, Devin Nunes, and eight other Republicans to the committee. Each side got equal time to question witnesses. The disruption delayed Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper's testimony by many hours.
Second impeachment of Donald Trump
On January 7, 2021, after a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol, Gaetz falsely said there was "pretty compelling evidence from a facial recognition company showing that some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters" but were rather "masquerading as Trump supporters, and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group antifa". Gaetz acknowledged during his speech on the House floor that he did not know "if the reports are true." Gaetz's suggestion that "antifa" was to blame for the attack on the Capitol is false and baseless.
Joel Valdez, a senior communications aide to Gaetz, posted a video on Parler hours before the storming of the Capitol with the caption "From the top of the Capitol office buildings, WE HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR! #StopTheSteal". Gaetz voted against the second impeachment of Donald Trump.
Economy
Gaetz voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He acknowledged that the bill's pass-through tax deduction would benefit Trump, but added, "so many Americans benefit when commercial real estate becomes easier and more accessible."
Environment
In 2016, Gaetz acknowledged global warming but said he disagrees with the scientific consensus on climate change that human activity is the primary cause. In April 2017, the Center for American Progress and Vice Media said Gaetz was a climate change denier, citing his 2016 statements.
In January 2017, Gaetz proposed legislation to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming that it hurts small businesses via the costs associated with compliance.
In November 2017, Gaetz joined the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus. He said he advocated technological innovation and economic incentives that address climate change, and increased federal funds for global warming research by NASA, NOAA and universities, but remained opposed to increased environmental regulation.
In 2019, Gaetz introduced the bipartisan Super Pollutants Act, which aimed to slow climate change by regulating greenhouses gases, especially black carbon, hydrofluorocarbons, and methane. A press release stated, "These short-lived climate pollutants, also called super pollutants, are significantly more potent than carbon dioxide."
Foreign policy
Myanmar
In 2021, Gaetz was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against a measure condemning the Myanmar coup d'état that overwhelmingly passed, for reasons reported to be unclear.
Middle East
In June 2021, Gaetz was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.
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In December 2017, Gaetz supported Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and said that the move would pressure Palestine to recognize Israel.
In 2019, Gaetz was one of 60 representatives to vote against condemning Trump's withdrawal from Syria.
In April 2019, after the House passed a resolution withdrawing American support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, Gaetz was one of nine lawmakers to sign a letter to Trump requesting a meeting with him and urging him to sign Senate Joint Resolution 7, which invokes the War Powers Act of 1973, to end unauthorized US military participation in the Saudi-led coalition's armed conflict against Houthi forces in Yemen.
Health care
In June 2021, Gaetz introduced the Digital Health Pass Prevention Act (DHPPA) with the support of Representatives Louie Gohmert and Lance Gooden. The full title of the bill is "To prohibit Federal funds from being used to implement, administer, enforce, or carry out programs with respect to digital health passes, and for other purposes." It was sent to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
COVID-19
On March 9, 2020, Gaetz's office reported that he had been in contact with a Conservative Political Action Conference attendee who tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, Gaetz was placed under self-quarantine for 14 days. On March 10, he said his test was negative, but that he would stay under self-quarantine until the 14-day period ended on March 12.
On April 14, Gaetz said the Wuhan Institute of Virology "birthed a monster", a reference to the theory that COVID-19 was leaked out of a Chinese research lab. He also claimed that the National Institutes of Health had given the Institute a $3.7 million grant. The U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance that worked with the Institute under a grant the Trump administration approved eventually had that funding withdrawn. but the EcoHealth Alliance later admitted that under the grant it had enhanced a bat coronavirus so it became potentially more infectious to humans, which the NIH said was an "unexpected result" of the research it had funded that was carried out in partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Nevertheless, the NIH denied it had helped create the virus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic.
After Politico reported on November 7 that Gaetz had tested positive for COVID-19, he texted Politico "I have tested positive for antibodies" and "I have no live virus". He said he had no symptoms and was not sure when he had contracted the disease.
On December 4, 2020, Gaetz attended an indoor New York Young Republicans Club conference in Jersey City, New Jersey, during a period of surging COVID-19 cases throughout the state and the country. He was seen posing for photos in a crowd of unmasked attendees, prompting New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop to publicly condemn him. Gaetz and other GOP members mocked Democrats and their COVID-19 regulations on social media. Murphy also said state officials were investigating whether the event violated the state's COVID-19 regulations.
After a contentious House committee hearing on June 10, 2021, Gaetz claimed a Chinese whistleblower possessed text messages and documents concerning COVID-19's origins that U.S government investigators had failed to pursue.
Immigration
Gaetz opposes sanctuary cities, which opt not to dedicate local law enforcement resources to prosecuting people solely for being undocumented.
In October 2018, Gaetz falsely claimed that George Soros paid for a caravan of migrants from Central America to the United States.
Gaetz voted against the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which authorizes DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020.
Gaetz voted against Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158) which effectively prohibits ICE from cooperating with Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children (UACs).
LGBT rights
As a Florida state representative in 2015, Gaetz and Representative David Richardson sponsored an amendment to repeal Florida's ban on adoptions by same-sex couples. He also persuaded his father, in the Florida State Senate, to support the repeal.
After the U.S. Supreme Court decided Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, Gaetz said he disagreed with the court's ruling. He said each state should have the right to decide for itself whether to allow same-sex marriage. The decision was an example of "judicial activism" that posed "a threat to our democracy", he said.
During the 116th Congress, Gaetz voted against the Equality Act.
Big Tech
In 2022, Gaetz was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.
Firebrand
Gaetz has a 2020 book and a 2021 podcast, both titled Firebrand. In both, he criticizes former House Speaker Paul Ryan for joining the board of Fox News's parent company and blames him for canceling Lou Dobbs Tonight.
Personal life
In June 2020, following an argument with then-Representative Cedric Richmond, Gaetz said he had been living with a 19-year-old immigrant from Cuba, Nestor Galbán, since Galbán was 12, and considered Galbán his son. He later clarified that Galbán is the brother of an ex-girlfriend of Gaetz's and that Galbán spends time with his sister, with Gaetz's family, and with Gaetz. The two are not related genetically or legally. Gaetz said, "Our relationship as a family is defined by our love for each other, not by any paperwork." In 2016, he called Galbán a "local student"; in 2017, he called Galbán "my helper".
In December 2020, Gaetz announced his engagement to his girlfriend, Ginger Luckey, the sister of Oculus VR founder and major Republican donor Palmer Luckey. They married in August 2021. Gaetz is a Baptist.
See also
In Spanish: Matt Gaetz para niños
