Governor Matt Gaetz? Insiders say he’s planning to succeed Ron DeSantis

Anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is considering a run for governor of Florida in 2026, according to a report from NBC News.

Gaetz attended the designation ceremony of state Rep. Danny Perez (R) as speaker of the Florida House this past weekend, along with most prominent Republicans in the state. Gaetz was “kind of holding court” at a reception following the event and implied that he was running for governor several times, according to four unnamed sources.

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Gaetz claimed Mr. Potato Head “was America’s first transgender doll and even he got canceled.” Trump Jr. said that Hasbro should have just used a CNN journalist’s face.

“There was a lot of talk about it at the reception last night, and Gaetz was telling people to basically expect him to be in,” said one Florida lobbyist.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is currently running for president, but he’s way behind Donald Trump in the polls with only 12.7% support to Trump’s 56.6% support, according to Real Clear Politics. If DeSantis loses next year, he’ll serve as governor until the end of 2026.

Gaetz, who is known for being anti-LGBTQ+ like DeSantis, isn’t doing much to dispel the rumors that he’s running for governor.

“Many did encourage me to consider running for governor one day,” Gaetz said following the event this weekend. “But we have an outstanding governor who will be in that position through 2026.”

“My only political focus right now is Trump 2024,” he added, reiterating his opposition to DeSantis’s presidential campaign. Gaetz served as an advisor for DeSantis’s original run for governor in 2018.

Gaetz tried to downplay the rumors when speaking with Axios, but he didn’t say that he wasn’t considering a gubernatorial run: “I ran into dozens of former colleagues from my days in the state legislature. They encouraged me relentlessly to consider returning to Florida. I wasn’t focused on any of that talk, though.”

Gaetz has consistently gotten a score of “0” on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard, showing his solid opposition to LGBTQ+ equality. But he has gone beyond voting against LGBTQ+ equal rights and has been an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ+ people.

He has referred to LGBTQ+ people as “degenerate” at least twice this year, saying that his school prayer bill will keep LGBTQ+ identities out of schools. He accused USAID, the federal agency that manages foreign aid and developmental assistance to other countries, of having a “perverse ideology” for supporting LGBTQ+ people in other countries. He also got the Air Force to shut down a drag event on a military base after he complained about it to a military official.