Representative Matt Gaetz is emerging from last week’s bitter speaker fight as the member of Congress everyone in Washington loves to hate.
While he pegged Kevin McCarthy as “the biggest alligator in the swamp” and the “masthead of the lobbying corps” whose bid for House speaker was an “exercise in vanity,” Gaetz’s fellow Republicans want the Florida lawmaker to know they think he’s a “D-lister” and a “narcissist.”
Welcome to the initial days of the Republican-controlled House where an ideologically diverse GOP and tight vote margin mean that the insults are seemingly here to stay.
Gaetz, 40, emerged as one of the most visible — and vilified — of the 20 members who withheld their support for McCarthy to negotiate changes that would weaken the speaker’s power, put limits on government spending and create seats on powerful committees for hard-line conservatives.
McCarthy won his speakership bid on the 15th try with help from Gaetz and five other dissidents who voted “present” instead of opposing him. They’re not likely to let him forget it.
After the bruising four-day battle, McCarthy credited Gaetz with ending the stalemate. Gaetz told reporters he’d simply run out of things to extract from McCarthy.
Gaetz particularly wanted to lead a sub-panel of the House Armed Services Committee in return for his support. Friday morning, McCarthy denied trading subcommittee leadership posts for support, but it’s still not clear whether McCarthy caved in to Gaetz’s demand.
Gaetz’s office did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
The speaker fight — played out on TV as unrestrained C-SPAN cameras covered the floor wrangling — highlighted Gaetz’s deeply personal opposition to the top-ranking Republican and the lack of patience his colleagues have for him and his often troll-like tactics.
In one of the most dramatic moments on the House floor Friday night, McCarthy begged Gaetz for his help during the 14th ballot when the vote total was deadlocked at 50%, denying McCarthy a win.
“C’mon Matt, what are you doing? We had talked about this,” McCarthy told Gaetz. But Gaetz just kept saying, “No, you guys went back on your agreement.”
“That’s not true. Nobody’s gone back on an agreement,” McCarthy said.
As the tense conversation and finger pointing unfolded, commotion erupted in the back of the chamber, with pushing and shoving. Mike Rogers — the Armed Services chairman — was suddenly and angrily trying to make his way to Gaetz.
Rogers told Gaetz, “We’re going to remember this. We won’t forget this.”
Former wrestler Guy Reschenthaler, a McCarthy ally, partially held Rogers back. Then Representative Richard Hudson grabbed him and put an arm over Rogers’ face, pulling him away.
The moment was the physical manifestation of the frustration that had been building all day. Earlier Friday, dozens of Republicans walked off the House floor, some cursing, while Gaetz called McCarthy the “LeBron James of special interest fundraising.”
Even after McCarthy eventually prevailed, Republicans were still irked by the public spectacle that kept many Americans glued to cable news and the notoriously dull C-SPAN late on a Friday night.
“I am deeply disappointed in the handful of my colleagues who have treated this process like a game,” Representative David Valadao, a California Republican, said in a statement.
Gaetz has been on the fringe of his party since he came to Washington in 2017. GQ magazine dubbed him the “Trumpiest Congressman in Trump’s Washington” in 2018.
Despite being overtly conservative in nearly every aspect, he supports marijuana legalization and has occasionally partnered with Democrats on that issue. His unique set of policy interests, brash style and name calling on Twitter make him an enigma, even in a post-Trump Washington.
Gaetz’s personal life has further alienated him. In 2020, the Department of Justice began an investigation into allegations that Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in exchange for money.
Gaetz denied the allegation and Justice Department prosecutors have since declined to recommend charges, citing the lack of certainty in a conviction because of the credibility of some witnesses, according to the Washington Post.
McCarthy didn’t defend Gaetz and said Gaetz should be removed from Congress if the allegations were true.
Gaetz enters the new congressional session with what appears to be a fresh lease on life — and hopes to realize the influence he has long sought.
Late one night in the the fall of 2017, Gaetz left the House cloakroom — a space just off the House floor. Across the hall, then-Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady was holding a meeting with top Republicans to negotiate the final details of Trump’s signature legislative achievement, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
“They don’t put people like me on Ways and Means,” he lamented to reporters, referring to the prestigious panel in charge of tax, trade and health care.
That may be true. But Gaetz found what could be a more powerful position in 2023 as a fearless dissident in a chamber with a tight margin controlled by a speaker that desperately needs his vote.
