The political future of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who suddenly withdrew Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general over sexual trafficking allegations, could be in the hands of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if he seeks a return to Congress.
The Florida Republican stepped down from his House seat last week when Trump tapped him to lead the Justice Department and days before the House Ethics Committee prepared to release a report on an investigation into whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl during a drug-fueled party.
"It is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition," Gaetz wrote on Thursday on X. "There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General."
He was reelected in his congressional district earlier this month with 66.3% of the vote.
Because Gaetz resigned from the House, his seat must be filled by a special election, according to the Florida Constitution, Forbes reported.
DeSantis is working to schedule the special election.
It's possible that Gaetz could enter the special election to regain his seat, Peter Bergerson, a political science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University told Verify.
It's also a possibility that DeSantis could appoint Gaetz to the Senate seat vacated by Marco Rubio, who has been nominated by Trump to serve as Secretary of State.
But Bergerson said there will be a long line of hopefuls lobbying for Rubio's Senate seat, including Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
"We have already received strong interest from several possible candidates, and we continue to gather names of additional candidates and conduct preliminary vetting," DeSantis said in a posting Monday on X. "More extensive vetting and candidate interviews will be conducted over the next few weeks, with a selection likely made by the beginning of January."
