Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), known in part for his aggressively pro-Trump politics, is facing a primary challenge. A candidate from inside the GOP is perhaps the best chance at actually seeing Gaetz’s exit from office considering the Republican lean of the northern Florida regions that he represents in the House.
The challenger is a man named Aaron Dimmock, an apparent U.S. military veteran. Gaetz is already lashing out.
“Meet @aaronwdimmock – the BLM supporting DEI instructor running against me in the Republican Primary,” Gaetz wrote on X (the site formerly called Twitter). “I knew former Representative McCarthy would be getting a puppet of his to run. I didn’t know it would be a Woke Toby Flenderson!” Flenderson is a character from the show “The Office.” DEI, meanwhile, refers to diversity, equity, and inclusion — an area of work that’s a prime target for some inside the GOP.
The primary election actually pitting these two against each other will come in August. Florida already held its presidential primary, in which former President Donald Trump easily swept the state on the GOP side, winning more than 81 percent of the vote — though the state’s GOP Governor Ron DeSantis had already withdrawn from the campaign amid persistent struggles for his bid.
Over in Colorado, it seems like ideologically similar Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) will be somewhat struggling through attempts at returning to Congress, as she’s trying to switch districts… but the field didn’t exactly clear for her. Instead, the district is already in line for a new Republican incumbent following the surprisingly early exit of Ken Buck, which was early enough to spur a special election. But Boebert was out of the running for the GOP nod for that contest because she decided to stay in her original seat, clearing the way for another hurdle to her campaign that’s still ongoing in the regular election processes.
