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 2020 and serves until Jan 3, 2021 unless re-elected.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
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. Because of his repeated refusals to respond to House Committee on Ethics requests for interviews, an Investigative Subcommittee was established in June 2019. In August 2020, the House Committee on Ethics published the report of the Investigative Subcommittee admonishing 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 the Committee 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 2019 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 6, 2015 to Sep 18, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Matt Gaetz sits on the following committees:
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Gaetz sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Crime and Law Enforcement (21%) Armed Forces and National Security (21%) International Affairs (16%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (11%) Health (11%) Immigration (11%) Environmental Protection (11%)
Recent Bills
Some of Gaetz’s most recently sponsored bills include...
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2017 to Sep 2020, Gaetz missed 163 of 2,106 roll call votes, which is 7.7%. This is much worse than the median of 2.2% 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 and major life events.
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
- Office of Matt Gaetz for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
