2024 Election /

Rep. Gaetz Defeats McCarthy-Backed Primary Challenger in Florida Congressional Race

With 90 percent of the vote in, Gaetz had 72.6 percent of the vote — to Dimmock's 27.4 percent.

Published: August 20, 2024
  |   By Cassandra MacDonald
Rep. Gaetz Defeats McCarthy-Backed Primary Challenger in Florida Congressional Race

Rep. Matt Gaetz easily defeated a primary challenger backed by Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday evening.


Gaetz was being challenged by retired naval officer Aaron Dimmock for Florida’s 1st Congressional District.

With 90 percent of the votes reported, Gaetz was the clear winner, with 72.6 percent of the vote, compared to Dimmock's 27.4 percent.

The Hill reports:

Dimmock told The Hill ahead of the primary that he’s never spoken to McCarthy, but Dimmock has his endorsement, and the political newcomer’s campaign got a boost of more than $3 million from a super PAC aligned with McCarthy.

Florida Patriots PAC ran biting ads knocking Gaetz over allegations of sexual misconduct, which the lawmaker has denied. The Florida Republican is under an ongoing investigation from the House Ethics Committee, though the Justice Department decided not to charge Gaetz in its sex-trafficking investigation into him last year. He’s dismissed the latest probes as “frivolous.”

Despite the support for his challenge effort, Dimmock faced an uphill battle to beat the Trump-backed incumbent who’s represented the district since 2017. A Gaetz-sponsored poll from July showed the incumbent up more than 40 points over Dimmock, according to FiveThirtyEight.


McCarthy has not been subtle in his disdain for the congressman who led the charge to have him removed as House Speaker last year.

Gaetz has also not been quiet about his frosty feelings toward McCarthy.

At the Republican National Convention last month, Gaetz confronted and brutally mocked McCarthy as he was speaking to a CNN reporter.

The incident was caught on video and posted on X by NewsNation reporter Joe Khalil.

Khalil wrote, "Very awkward moment- Congressman Matt Gaetz tries to interrupt former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s interviews, taunting him 'Hey Kevin, what night are you speaking?'"


“What night are you speaking? Are you speaking tonight?” Gaetz said while becoming increasingly confrontational.

McCarthy, who is not speaking at the event, opted not to respond.

“If you took that stage, you would get booed off of it,” Gaetz continued.

As this happened, McCarthy began telling CNN about an ethics probe into Gaetz that was underway when he was removed as speaker.


*For corrections please email [email protected]*

Popular