Gaetz is the representative for Florida’s 1st congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 3, 2017. Gaetz is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 40 years old.
Our work to hold Congress accountable only matters if elections are decided by counting votes. President Trump, his senior government advisors, and Republican legislators collaborated to have the 2020 presidential election decided instead by incumbent politicians running in the very same election. Their attempts to suppress entire state-certified vote counts without adjudication in the courts and using a disinformation campaign of lies and conspiracy theories was a months-long, multifarious attempted coup.
Gaetz was among the Republican legislators who participated in the attempted coup. Shortly after the election, Gaetz joined a case before the Supreme Court calling for all the votes for president in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — states that were narrowly won by Democrats — to be discarded, in order to change the outcome of the election, based on lies and a preposterous legal argument which the Supreme Court rejected. (Following the rejection of several related cases before the Supreme Court, another legislator who joined the case called for violence.) Gaetz was also a part of a coordinated campaign by the Trump Administration to pressure the Vice President to exclude some Democratic states from the electoral count rather than follow the procedure set in law in which Congress may vote to exclude electors, and other extrajudicial strategies to suppress certified election results. On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the violent insurrection at the Capitol, Gaetz voted to reject the state-certified election results of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania (states narrowly won by Democrats), which could have changed the outcome of the election. These legislators have generally changed their story after their vote, claiming it was merely a protest and not intended to change the outcome of the election as they clearly sought prior to the vote. The January 6, 2021 violent insurrection at the Capitol, led on the front lines by militant white supremacy groups, attempted to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from taking office by disrupting Congress’s count of electors. In the days after Jan. 6, Gaetz requested from President Trump a pardon for crimes he may have committed in attempting to change the result of the election in Trump’s favor.
Misconduct/alleged misconduct
On March 30, 2021, the New York Times reported that the Department of Justice was investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz over allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with an underage girl. Over the ensuing two weeks, the allegations expanded signficantly and on April 9 the House Committee on Ethics opened an investigation into allegations that Gaetz was engaging in a sexual relationship with underage girl, using illicit drugs, sharing inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misusing state identification records, converting campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepting a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift.
| Mar. 30, 2021 | The New York Times reported that the Department of Justice was investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz over allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with an underage girl. |
| Apr. 9, 2021 | House Committee on Ethics opened an investigation into Gaetz |
In February 2019, Gaetz posted a threatening tweet aimed at Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney the night before Cohen was scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee regarding crimes for which Cohen had been found guilty and in which, according to federal prosecutors, the President participated. Gaetz was referred to the Florida Bar for investigation and possible discipline. In August 2019, the Florida Bar announced it had found "no probable cause" that Gaetz had violated its rules and closed its investigation. In August 2020, the House Committee on Ethics admonished Gaetz for unprofessional behavior.
| Feb. 27, 2019 | Florida Bar Association opened an investigation against Gaetz for attempted witness intimidation |
| May. 8, 2019 | Florida Bar Association moved the investigation to the Grievance Committee to decide whether or not there is probable cause that Gaetz broke Florida Supreme Court rules for lawyers |
| Mar. 13, 2019 | House Committee on Ethics after receipt of a member complaint, the committee began a review of Gaetz's tweet |
| May. 13, 2019 | Gaetz refused to appear for an interview with the committee. |
| Jun. 28, 2019 | House Committee on Ethics on May 16 warned Gaetz that further non-compliance would result in an Investigative Subcommittee; he continued to refuse to appear for an interview and they established the Investigative Subcommittee in June |
| Aug. 14, 2019 | Florida Bar Association closed its investigation with a finding of no probable cause of rule violation |
| Aug. 21, 2020 | House Committee on Ethics published the report of the Investigative Subcommittee admonishing Gaetz for unprofessional behavior |
![Photo of Rep. Matt Gaetz [R-FL1]](/static/legislator-photos/412690-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Gaetz.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Gaetz is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Gaetz has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 27, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Matt Gaetz sits on the following committees:
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Gaetz sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (26%) International Affairs (19%) Crime and Law Enforcement (16%) Health (13%) Environmental Protection (6%) Armed Forces and National Security (6%) Immigration (6%) Sports and Recreation (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Gaetz recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.Con.Res. 30: Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to …
- H.Res. 236: FBI Washington Field Office House Arrest Act
- H.Con.Res. 21: Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to …
- H.Con.Res. 20: Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to …
- H.R. 1079: Medicaid Work Requirements Act
- H.R. 1080: COVID–19 Federal Employee Reinstatement Act
- H.Res. 113: Ukraine Fatigue Resolution
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2017 to Mar 2023, Gaetz missed 205 of 3,328 roll call votes, which is 6.2%. This is much worse than the median of 1.6% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- House of Representatives for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
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