Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is no longer a candidate to become attorney general.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) could potentially return to Congress after withdrawing as a candidate for attorney general in President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration.
Gaetz, 42, resigned from his position in Congress on Nov. 13, the same day that Trump announced Gaetz as his selection for attorney general. Gaetz said in a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives that he was resigning “effective immediately.”
“I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress to pursue the position of attorney general in the Trump administration,” Gaetz said.
Gaetz on Nov. 21 withdrew himself from consideration as attorney general.
Gaetz cannot be appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to the same seat he vacated because vacancies can only be filled by special elections, according to the Congressional Research Service. Florida law also requires that House vacancies be filled by the winners of special elections.
DeSantis, a Republican, said earlier this month that he had instructed Florida’s secretary of state to schedule a special election for the seat, which represents Florida’s First Congressional District. The election has not yet been scheduled.
Based on state and federal requirements, the special election is not expected to be held until after the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025.
Aubrey Jewett, the assistant director of the University of Central Florida’s School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs, told The Epoch Times that Gaetz could try to rescind the resignation.
Gaetz can rescind the resignation if it did not yet go into effect, Peter Bergerson, professor emeritus of political science at Florida Gulf Coast University, told The Epoch Times in an email. If the resignation is successfully rescinded, then Gaetz will be a member of the House and will keep his seat in January.
House parliamentarians say that a member’s resignation “becomes effective on its stated terms and ordinarily may not be withdrawn.”
Both Jewett and Bergerson said that regardless of the resignation, Gaetz can run in the special election if one is held.
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