Former primary challenger to Gaetz considering bid for now-open seat

Aaron Dimmock, who unsuccessfully challenged former Rep. Matt Gaetz in this year’s Republican primary for Florida’s 1st Congressional District, is considering a run for the seat again now that President-elect Trump’s shock pick for attorney general has resigned.

“I am taking a serious look at it and have already received numerous calls from constituents imploring me to run,” Dimmock told The Hill.

Dimmock, a retired naval officer and leadership consultant, was boosted in his challenge to Gaetz by a PAC with reported ties to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Gaetz led the charge to oust McCarthy from the Speakership.

But Gaetz, who had ample support from his hard-line conservative allies in Congress, handily defeated Dimmock with 72.6 percent support to 27.4 percent.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Wednesday that Gaetz had resigned in order to kick-start the process of filling the seat to lessen the complications of a razor-thin majority.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said on the social platform X on Thursday that he instructed the secretary of state to “immediately” start the process of formulating a schedule for the special election.

But Gaetz’s resignation has also put focus on a House Ethics Committee probe that has stretched for years. The Ethics panel has no jurisdiction to investigate a former member, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for it to release its findings on Gaetz.

The committee was probing whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other allegations. The congressional probe into Gaetz was opened in 2021, shortly after news reports emerged that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was reportedly investigating whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

Gaetz has vigorously denied allegations of wrongdoing, and the DOJ declined to charge him with a crime. In September, Gaetz said he would “no longer voluntarily participate” in the probe.

The ethics probe was an issue in the August primary, as well.

The PAC with connections to McCarthy allies spent more $3 million in the race — including on brutal ads that highlight the misconduct allegations against Gaetz.

“Your daughters are never safe with the real Matt Gaetz,” a narrator says in one ad from the Florida Patriots PAC, referencing the allegations against him.

In an interview with The Hill in August, Dimmock said that voters in Florida “are embarrassed by our incumbents. They can’t understand the chaos that he caused to the Republican Party over the last several years.”

Gaetz, meanwhile, attacked Dimmock for working for the state of Missouri and called him a “BLM supporting DEI instructor.”