Matt Gaetz lost Tuesday to a challenger backed by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Gaetz, R-Fla., who led the successful ouster of McCarthy, emerged victorious against his only opponent, Aaron Dimmock, a retired Navy officer who attacked Gaetz for not living in the Florida district.
“I live in Pensacola,” Dimmock said with a laugh when a local resident asked. news network.
“Aaron Dimmock advertised on his own Linkedin that he lived in Jefferson City, Missouri, the day he ran for Congress against me,” Gaetz said.
Dimmock explained that he lives in Pensacola, but owns a home in Missouri and spends time there as well.
“I live here in Pensacola,” he explained. “I have a house in Missouri, as a lot of people have houses in different locations. And yes, I was there recently for some work that I was doing.”
Matt Gaetz was ousted from the throne on Tuesday by a primary challenger backed by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy
“Kevin McCarthy wanted to recruit an opponent for me, but he couldn’t even find someone from Northwest Florida who would play me,” Gaetz said.
“So he had to choose someone who had last voted in Pensacola 20 years ago.”
Dimmock attributed this to his military service. He lived halfway around the world, but had long-standing family ties to the region.
“I’ve had the opportunity to be stationed in the state of Florida multiple times,” Dimmock said. “Three of our four children were born in this state, and we are proud to call Florida home, especially Pensacola.”
McCarthy has publicly endorsed Dimmock, and Florida Patriots PAC, a group with ties to McCarthy’s allies, has spent $3.5 million on ads against Gaetz.
The group has highlighted the Ethics Committee’s ongoing investigation into Gaetz over alleged drug use and sexual misconduct. Gaetz has called the investigation “frivolous” and accused McCarthy of being behind it.
Gaetz confronted McCarthy last month at the Republican National Convention (RNC).
“What night are you speaking? If you went up on that stage, you’d be booed off the stage. You’d be booed off the stage!” Gaetz grinned at the California Republican.
McCarthy said in April that he lost his job because he refused to help the representative. Matt Gaetz to cover up the fact that you ‘slept with a 17-year-old’.
“I’ll tell you the truth about why I’m not president,” McCarthy said during a lecture at Georgetown University titled “How Strong Is Our Democracy?”
“It’s because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to drop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old,” the California Republican continued. “Did he do it or didn’t he? I don’t know.”
McCarthy has long accused Gaetz of filing the historic motion to remove him from the chairmanship last year amid an ongoing ethics investigation into his conduct.
Gaetz fired back at the speaker’s accusation on X: “Kevin McCarthy is a liar. That’s why he’s not speaker anymore. Just ask the 224 people who voted to remove him.”
Gaetz, R-Fla., who led the successful ouster of McCarthy, emerged victorious against his only opponent Aaron Dimmock, a retired Navy officer who attacked Gaetz for not living in the Florida district.
In February, McCarthy suggested that the married Gaetz “lies about who he sleeps with.”
The House Committee on Ethics first opened an investigation into Gaetz in April 2021, but paused it while the Justice Department launched its own investigation into the member.
The Justice Department ultimately decided not to charge Gaetz.
However, the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics has reopened its investigation into the Florida case.
Additionally, recently reported text messages reveal that Gaetz had paid a young woman, for whom his now-incarcerated friend Joel Greenberg, for sex, to join him on a three-day excursion to the Florida Keys.
The messages, ABC News reports, were allegedly spread in May 2017, months after the Florida Republican was sworn in.
Detailed texts sent to the newspaper show Gaetz asking the woman to fly on a private jet and join him, another woman and three other men in the Keys.
McCarthy is the only speaker to ever lose the gavel in Congress mid-term. He then left the House and has not since imposed any restrictions on the eight Republicans who voted to impeach him.
