Gaetz floats possible bid for Rubio's Senate seat

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) openly floated the idea of running for Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) Senate seat during a Turning Point USA event Sunday in Arizona.

“Many have asked which perch I will be fighting from next, and some of you throughout this conference have even given me a few suggestions,” Gaetz said at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest. “My fellow Floridians have asked me to eye the governor's mansion in Tallahassee, maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress.”

“It seems I may not have had enough support in the United States Senate. Maybe I'll just run for Marco Rubio's vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks,” Gaetz continued, nodding to the fact he struggled to win enough support among senators to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general.

Rubio is leaving his Senate seat after being tapped by Trump to be his secretary of State. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will appoint Rubio’s replacement. Though it was not clear whether Gaetz was seriously considering running for Senate, his remarks drew applause from the crowd.

Gaetz immediately resigned from Congress when he was tapped to be Trump’s attorney general. He later dropped his bid amid concerns that he didn’t have enough support in the Senate for his confirmation.

Gaetz, however, has said he doesn’t intend to rejoin the House, setting off a special election to fill his seat in Florida’s 1st Congressional District.

The former congressman’s remarks came one day before the House Ethics Committee published a report on him, in which “the Committee concluded there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”

The House Ethics Committee has investigating Gaetz over whether he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other points, though he has denied any wrongdoing. A separate Justice Department probe into him resulted in no charges against him.

Gaetz had sued to stop the House Ethics Committee from releasing its report, with a lawsuit slamming the report, saying it included “untruthful and defamatory information.”