Matt Gaetz

Matt Gaetz
Official portrait, 2020
Matt Gaetz
Born	Matthew Louis Gaetz II 7 5, 1982
Birthplace	Hollywood, Florida, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Politician, lawyer, political commentator
Known for	U.S. Representative for Florida's 1st congressional district (2017–2024); motion to vacate the Speaker of the House (2023); nominee for U.S. Attorney General (2024)
Education	William & Mary Law School (J.D.)
Spouse(s)	Ginger Gaetz
Children	1

Matthew Louis Gaetz II (born May 7, 1982) is an American politician, lawyer, and political commentator who served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 1st congressional district from January 2017 until his resignation in November 2024. A member of the Republican Party who has described himself as a "libertarian populist," Gaetz represented a district encompassing Escambia, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa counties, along with portions of Walton County, in the Florida Panhandle. The son of former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz and grandson of North Dakota politician Jerry Gaetz, he entered public life through the Florida House of Representatives, where he served from 2010 to 2016, before winning election to Congress. In the U.S. House, Gaetz became one of the most prominent allies of Donald Trump and gained national attention for his combative style, his role in filing a motion to vacate that led to the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House in October 2023, and for a federal investigation into allegations of sex trafficking that ultimately did not result in criminal charges. In November 2024, President-elect Trump nominated Gaetz to serve as United States Attorney General, but Gaetz withdrew from consideration within a week amid opposition from members of his own party. Following his departure from Congress, Gaetz transitioned into political media, hosting The Matt Gaetz Show on One America News Network beginning in January 2025.

Early Life

Matthew Louis Gaetz II was born on May 7, 1982, in Hollywood, Florida. He was raised in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, in the state's Panhandle region. His family has deep roots in American politics: his father, Don Gaetz, served in the Florida Senate and rose to become its president, establishing himself as one of the most prominent Republican politicians in the state. His paternal grandfather, Jerry Gaetz, was a politician in North Dakota.

Growing up in a politically active household in the conservative Florida Panhandle shaped Gaetz's early exposure to governance and public affairs. The family home in Fort Walton Beach was notably used as a filming location for the movie The Truman Show (1998), a detail that has been frequently referenced in media profiles of Gaetz.

Gaetz's upbringing in a family steeped in Republican politics provided him with connections and name recognition that would prove advantageous in his later political career. His father's prominence in state-level politics, including Don Gaetz's tenure as president of the Florida Senate, gave the younger Gaetz a platform from which to launch his own political ambitions.

Education

Gaetz attended Florida State University for his undergraduate education before enrolling at the William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he earned his Juris Doctor degree. After completing law school, Gaetz briefly practiced law in the private sector before turning to politics full-time.

Career

Florida House of Representatives (2010–2016)

Gaetz entered electoral politics in 2010 when he ran for the Florida House of Representatives, seeking to represent the 4th district. He won a special election and took office on April 13, 2010, succeeding Ray Sansom. During his six years in the state legislature, Gaetz carved out a reputation as a conservative lawmaker willing to take on both policy and procedural battles.

One of Gaetz's notable legislative efforts in the Florida House involved energy policy. He supported legislation related to the regulation of ethanol fuels, a matter that drew attention from both environmental and industry groups.

Gaetz received national attention during his time in the state legislature for his defense of Florida's "stand-your-ground" law, which became a subject of intense national debate following the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin. In 2014, Gaetz introduced an amendment that would have restricted journalists' access to records related to stand-your-ground cases, a move that drew criticism from press freedom advocates.

During his tenure in the Florida House, Gaetz also made headlines for an incident involving an arrest for driving under the influence. In 2014, when questioned about a mug shot from the arrest, Gaetz chose to address the mug shot publicly while declining to discuss details of the arrest itself. The charges were ultimately dropped.

In 2016, as his father Don Gaetz's term in the Florida Senate was ending, Matt Gaetz initially considered running for his father's state Senate seat before ultimately deciding to seek the U.S. House seat being vacated by retiring Republican Jeff Miller. His successor in the Florida House was Mel Ponder.

U.S. House of Representatives (2017–2024)

Election to Congress

Gaetz won the Republican primary and the 2016 general election for Florida's 1st congressional district, succeeding Jeff Miller. He took office on January 3, 2017. He was subsequently re-elected in 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024, each time winning comfortably in the heavily Republican district.

Legislative Record and Political Positions

Early in his first term, Gaetz introduced legislation to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency. In February 2017, he introduced H.R. 861, a one-sentence bill titled "To terminate the Environmental Protection Agency." The bill did not advance beyond introduction but garnered significant media attention as a statement of Gaetz's stance on environmental regulation. Gaetz was identified as part of a group of members of the 115th Congress who rejected the scientific consensus on climate change.

In February 2017, Gaetz held town hall meetings in his district that drew large, vocal crowds, some of whom protested his and President Trump's policies. Gaetz accused some attendees of being paid protesters, though this claim was not substantiated. At one of these town halls, Gaetz broke with many Republicans by publicly calling on President Trump to release his tax returns.

Russia Investigation and Mueller Probe

In November 2017, Gaetz was among a group of Republican members of Congress who introduced a resolution calling for the removal of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The resolution, H.Res. 477, argued that Mueller's previous tenure as FBI Director created a conflict of interest. This effort solidified Gaetz's reputation as one of Trump's most outspoken defenders in Congress.

Motion to Vacate the Speaker

In October 2023, Gaetz filed a motion to vacate the chair, a procedural mechanism to remove the Speaker of the House. The motion led to a vote in which Kevin McCarthy was removed from the speakership, marking the first time in American history that a Speaker had been ousted through such a vote. Gaetz had been in a prolonged conflict with McCarthy over what he characterized as broken promises regarding spending cuts and other conservative priorities. The move drew both praise from some conservative activists and sharp criticism from many of Gaetz's Republican colleagues, who viewed it as destabilizing.

Interactions with the Pentagon

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Gaetz was involved in oversight of the Department of Defense. In April 2022, a hearing on the Pentagon's fiscal year 2023 budget request featured a confrontational exchange between Gaetz and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, in which the two clashed over military readiness and policy priorities.

Attorney General Nomination and Withdrawal

On November 13, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would nominate Gaetz to serve as United States Attorney General. The nomination surprised many observers and was received poorly by several Republican senators whose votes would be required for confirmation. Upon Trump's announcement, Gaetz immediately resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives, effective that same day.

The nomination drew attention to the then-ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz. On November 21, 2024—just over a week after the nomination was announced—Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the position, citing the likelihood of a contentious confirmation process. Despite having already won re-election to the 119th Congress in the November 2024 election, Gaetz submitted a letter of resignation prior to the swearing-in of the new Congress, thereby forgoing his seat entirely. He was succeeded by Jimmy Patronis.

Post-Congressional Career

Following his departure from Congress, Gaetz transitioned into political media and journalism. In January 2025, he began hosting The Matt Gaetz Show, a political talk show airing weeknights on the One America News Network.

By December 2025, Gaetz had also joined the Pentagon press corps as a credentialed journalist, attending briefings at the Department of Defense. His appearance at the Pentagon wearing his old congressional jacket attracted media coverage.

Personal Life

Gaetz married Ginger Luckey in 2021. In August 2025, the couple welcomed their first child.

Prior to the birth of his biological child, Gaetz had publicly spoken about a young man named Nestor Galban, whom he described as a member of his family. Gaetz stated that he had taken Galban into his home when the boy was a teenager, though no formal adoption took place.

Gaetz's father, Don Gaetz, served as president of the Florida Senate. The elder Gaetz's political career and connections in the Florida Panhandle were instrumental in establishing the family's political profile in the region.

Investigations and Ethics Proceedings

Federal Investigation

Beginning in 2020, Gaetz was the subject of a Department of Justice investigation into allegations of child sex trafficking and statutory rape. The investigation examined whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and whether he had paid for her to travel across state lines. A former associate of Gaetz, Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking charges and cooperated with federal investigators.

After an extended investigation, the DOJ ultimately decided not to bring criminal charges against Gaetz. Prosecutors concluded that the evidence, which relied in part on the testimony of witnesses with credibility issues, was insufficient to secure a conviction at trial.

House Ethics Committee Report

In December 2024, following Gaetz's resignation from Congress, the House Ethics Committee released a report detailing the findings of its investigation into Gaetz's conduct. The report found evidence that Gaetz had paid for sex—including with a 17-year-old—and had abused illegal drugs during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives. The committee did not find sufficient evidence that Gaetz had engaged in sex trafficking as defined under federal law.

Gaetz consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing and characterized the investigations as politically motivated.

Florida Bar Proceedings

In January 2026, the Florida Bar concluded its review of the allegations against Gaetz and decided not to reprimand him. The Bar determined that the congressional findings regarding alleged statutory rape did not meet its threshold for professional discipline related to the practice of law.

Legacy

Matt Gaetz's political career reflects the broader transformation of the Republican Party during the Trump era. His tenure in Congress was marked by a combative approach to legislative process, a willingness to challenge party leadership, and an alignment with populist and nationalist currents within the conservative movement. His filing of the motion to vacate the chair in October 2023, which resulted in the unprecedented removal of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, represented one of the most dramatic procedural actions in the modern history of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Gaetz's trajectory from state legislator to congressman to attorney general nominee to media personality illustrates the fluidity between politics and media that has characterized American public life in the 2020s. His ability to maintain political relevance despite the federal investigation, the Ethics Committee report, and his withdrawal from the attorney general nomination has been the subject of analysis by political commentators.

His relationship with Donald Trump—as one of the former president's most vocal congressional allies—positioned Gaetz at the center of several defining political conflicts of the era, from the Mueller investigation to the speakership crisis to the 2024 transition.