Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) thinks former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who just dropped out of consideration for President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general spot, could be a good candidate to replace Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
Rubio is set to vacate his Senate seat after Trump nominated him to be his secretary of state.
Scott said he was disappointed Gaetz was dropping out but that “Matt would be a great person” to take Florida’s soon-to-be-open Senate seat, according to Politico. Scott suggested his first preference for the seat would be Republican National Committee Co-Chairwoman Lara Trump.
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Gaetz dropped out of attorney general consideration on Thursday after meeting with senators on Wednesday, citing that his confirmation was becoming a “distraction” to the Trump administration.
“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle,” Gaetz mused, noting he wants the Department of Justice ready on day one.
Gaetz had resigned his congressional seat but was reelected in the 2024 elections, meaning there’s a possibility he could retake his seat in Congress.
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Or he could pursue Florida’s Senate seat, which is a taller task. However, several sexual misconduct allegations have haunted him during his abbreviated nomination for attorney general and are likely to plague a Senate run as well.
If he returns to the House, the ethics investigation that has been at the center of his nomination battle could be reopened. He resigned before the report was released, which Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) used as his reasoning for not publishing the findings.