On Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, reportedly formally established a date for a special election to fill the vacant House seat in Florida’s 1st Congressional District that was previously held by former Republican Representative Matt Gaetz.
The general election for the district is now scheduled to take place on April 1, 2025, and the primary election for the district is scheduled to take place on January 28, 2025.
There are a number of congressional districts in the state that are considered to be exceptionally conservative.
In the beginning of this month, Gaetz was able to easily win reelection with 66 percent of the vote behind him.
Due to the district’s strong conservative leanings, it is quite likely that the Republican primary election in January will be a fiercely contested one.
In addition to former United States Army Captain John Frankman, a number of contenders have entered their names into the ring.
These candidates include state Representatives Michelle Salzman and Joel Rudman, both of whom are Republicans. And earlier this week, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis stated in a post on social platform X that he was “strongly considering” a run for the seat. Patronis was referring to his potential candidacy for the position.
In the hours that followed Gaetz’s announcement on Friday that he would not be returning to serve in the 119th Congress, the special election dates were announced.
Following President-elect Trump’s nomination of Gaetz to serve as his attorney general, Gaetz tendered his resignation from the 118th Congress at the end of the previous week.
In light of the mounting negative reaction that has been directed toward him as a result of previous investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct against him, Gaetz said on Thursday that he was withdrawing his candidature from consideration for the seat.
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