Matt Gaetz attempts to recruit California’s disillusioned Democrats for Trump

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz headlined a California rally on Sunday aimed at bringing disenchanted Democrats into the Republican Party’s fold.

“If you come to our side,” Gaetz told hundreds of attendees at the Beverly Hills event, “we will welcome you with a patriotic embrace.”

The Republican Party is “patriotic and joyful,” the former GOP lawmaker said, while he targeted Democrats as “angry and lonely.”

Gaetz’s pitch to California comes as the latest twist in his unpredictable career.

The Republican represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District from 2017 to 2024, resigning just days after his reelection when then-President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general. Embroiled in a House Ethics Committee investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor and use of illicit drugs, Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration after it became clear he did not have the Senate votes needed for confirmation.

In late December 2024, the committee published a report determining there was “substantial evidence” that the one-time lawmaker paid several women, including at least one minor, to have sex with him.

After withdrawing his name from consideration for attorney general, Gaetz joined Cameo, where he is offering personalized roasts, pep talks, or special occasion videos, starting at $525. In December, the former congressman signed on with the One America News Network to host his prime-time program, The Matt Gaetz Show.

On Sunday, Gaetz railed against California Democrats, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA).

“They are the movement that allowed this great state to burn,” he said, referring to the Los Angeles fires that devastated the state in January. “They are the movement that turned what was paradise over to the homeless and illegal aliens.”

The event was organized by the #WalkAway campaign, which was launched by conservative personality Brandon Straka. A former Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, Straka rose to fame with a YouTube video that attacked the Left as intolerant and now spearheads the social media push that encourages voters to leave the Democratic Party and explore conservative alternatives.

Rally attendee Hunter Gibson told the Los Angeles Times  that he felt that in places such as Beverly Hills, “if you don’t think a certain way, you’re ostracized.” He said conservatives were more open to dialogue.

Straka similarly called for greater diversity in how politicians approach controversial topics such as transgender issues.

“I think you can be pro-transgender and also recognize that there’s a culture that’s too permissive, that’s turning people into permanent victims, especially people who are not actually transgender,” he told the outlet.

One attendee told CBS News that she “thinks most Democrats do not agree with the far-left policies at this point.

The rally came as California’s Democratic leaders, including Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, have come under criticism for how they have managed the state, particularly in the wake of fires that scorched LA earlier this year.

NEWSOM AND BASS SCRAMBLE TO PREVENT THEIR CAREERS FROM GOING UP IN SMOKE

Bass’s popularity has dropped precipitously, while Californian activist Randy Economy is leading an effort to recall the mayor.

“This one here … the anger is palatable, and the anger is coming from Gavin’s base, and that is the people who live in the heavily Democratic areas of Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, who have lost absolutely everything due to gross mismanagement of fires, fire protection,” Economy previously told the Washington Examiner. “So I think that’s the difference that I can see thus far is the fact that this isn’t divided up into, you know, ‘it’s the crazy factor going ahead and trying to get rid of the governor.’ Everybody’s angry right now.”