Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) openly floated the idea of running for Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) Senate seat during a Turning Point USA event in Arizona on Sunday.
“Many have asked which perch I will be fighting from next, and some of you throughout this conference have even given me a few suggestions,” Gaetz said at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest. “My fellow Floridians have asked me to eye the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress.”
“It seems I may not have had enough support in the United States Senate. Maybe I’ll just run for Marco Rubio’s vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks,” Gaetz continued, nodding to the fact that he struggled to win enough support among senators to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general.
Rubio is leaving his Senate seat after being tapped by Trump to be his secretary of State. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will appoint Rubio’s replacement. Though it was not clear if Gaetz was seriously considering running for Senate, his remarks drew applause from the crowd.