Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) faces a primary challenge Tuesday as part of a months-long push by former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to defeat the handful of Republicans who helped oust him last year.
Gaetz led seven other House Republicans in teaming up with Democrats to remove McCarthy in October, an unprecedented vote that further inflamed GOP infighting in the chamber. Gaetz has remained a polarizing figure inside the conference, campaigning against GOP colleagues in defiance of the new speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Gaetz is the last of the anti-McCarthy GOP group running for reelection in a primary this year. Only one of them, Rep. Bob Good (Va.), has lost their primary, and that was after former president Donald Trump endorsed his opponent, citing other reasons. Others, such as Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.) and Matt Rosendale (Mont.), chose not to run for reelection.
Gaetz’s sole opponent is Aaron Dimmock, a retired Navy officer whom Gaetz quickly attacked over his background working in diversity training. Gaetz also has run ads playing up his closeness with Trump, who has endorsed him.
“This is Donald Trump’s party, and I’m a Donald Trump Republican,” one ad shows Gaetz proclaiming at a rally.
Dimmock and his allies have taken Gaetz to task over allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl. The Justice Department decided last year not to bring charges against Gaetz, and he has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, but the House Ethics Committee is still investigating.
“Your daughters are never safe with the real Matt Gaetz,” says one spot from an anti-Gaetz super PAC, Florida Patriots PAC.
Gaetz has overwhelmed Dimmock in fundraising, raising $5.7 million through July, according to Federal Election Commission records. Dimmock collected a tiny fraction of that but has been helped by Florida Patriots PAC, which has dumped over $3 million into the contest.
Florida Patriots PAC has been entirely funded by America Fund, which is part of a network of groups that have been heavily involved in trying to unseat other House Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy. One of those groups is the American Prosperity Alliance, a nonprofit to which former top McCarthy aide Brian O. Walsh serves as senior adviser.
McCarthy publicly backed Dimmock shortly after he entered the primary in the spring and has continued feuding with Gaetz, including during a dust-up at the Republican National Convention in which Gaetz interrupted McCarthy while he was doing a TV interview.
U.S. Senate primaries in Florida
The Florida primary also is expected to finalize a November matchup between Sen. Rick Scott (R) and a Democratic challenger, former congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
The race has remained on Democrats’ radar as one of their two most realistic pickup opportunities in the Senate as they mostly play defense elsewhere. The other is Texas, where Sen. Ted Cruz (R) faces Rep. Colin Allred (D).
Discussing the Senate map Monday near the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Democrats “have a shot to pick up” Florida or Texas. “I believe that’s real,” he said. Democrats are newly energized after Vice President Kamala Harris was elevated to the top of the presidential ticket, and some argue she has put more states in play.
Both Scott and Mucarsel-Powell are the front-runners in their primaries. Scott has two challengers; Mucarsel-Powell has three.
President Joe Biden voiced support for Mucarsel-Powell during an April visit to Florida, while Trump endorsed Scott last year.
For Democrats, the November election is a chance to counteract Florida’s rightward trend in recent years. Trump carried Florida in 2016 and 2020, and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) won reelection in a landslide in 2022.
The race also comes as Scott, the former chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm, sets his sights on a higher post: replacing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) as the chamber’s GOP leader in 2025. Scott is among three Republicans vying for the job.
Alaska’s at-large House primary
In Alaska, voters are picking which candidates they want to see in the November election for one of the country’s most competitive House seats. The at-large seat is currently held by Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola.
The state uses a primary system in which all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of partisan affiliation, and the top four vote-getters advance to a general election with ranked-choice voting.
Peltola and 11 other candidates are on the ballot Tuesday, including four Republicans. The most prominent GOP candidates are Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who is backed by Trump and the House GOP campaign arm, and Nick Begich, a businessman who ran against Peltola in 2022 and comes from a family of prominent Democratic elected officials.
Peltola is among the most vulnerable House Democrats as one of five who are running for another term in a district Trump carried in 2020. Peltola has kept her distance from her party’s national ticket, declining to endorse Harris after Biden ended his reelection campaign last month.
A super PAC with ties to Democrats has been meddling in the primary, airing attack ads that seem geared toward ensuring Peltola faces three Republicans in November. That would be a clear-cut matchup in which Peltola could count on a consolidated party in a close race.
The super PAC, Vote Alaska Before Party, has spent over $900,000 in the primary, according to FEC records. Meanwhile, a new super PAC that has not had to disclose its donors yet, 1959 PAC, has spent at least $751,000 boosting Dahlstrom in recent weeks.