Matt Gaetz is a former attorney and an American politician. He has served as a Congressman for Florida’s First Congressional District since 2017. He is a rather outspoken conservative and has been described as one of the most loyal Congressional allies of former President Donald Trump.
| Celebrated Name: | Matt Gaetz |
| Real Name/Full Name: | Matthew Lousi Gaetz II |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age: | 39 |
| Birthdate: | May 7, 1982 |
| Birthplace: | Hollywood, FL |
| Nationality: | American |
| Height: | 5 ft. 7 in. |
| Weight: | 160 lb. |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Wife/Spouse | Ginger Luckey Gaetz |
| Children/Kids: | N/A |
| Dating/Girlfriend Name: | N/A |
| Is Matt Gaetz Gay? | No |
| Highest Political Office: | United States House of Representatives |
| Profession: | Attorney and Politician |
| Colleges Attended: | Florida State University, William and Mary Law School |
| Degrees: | Bachelor’s – Interdisciplinary Studies; Juris Doctor |
| Salary: | $174,000 |
| Net Worth in 2022: | $388,000 |
Biography: Early Life and Family
Matthew Louis Gaetz II was born in Hollywood, Florida to parents Don and Victoria (nee’ Quertermous) Gaetz. Matt Gaetz can trace his ancestry back to Prussia (which today would be partially Germany, partially Poland). His third great-grandparents came to America via chain migration. They arrived on American soil on May 19, 1853.
Matt Gaetz’ father was a prominent local politician. Gaetz’ father was a member of the Florida State Senate from 2006 to 2016. He was the Senate president for two years during his tenure in the local body of government.
Don Gaetz was not the only politician in the family (prior to Matt’s career). Don’s father, Stanley Jerome Gaetz (known as Jerry), was the mayor of Rugby, North Dakota. He was also a candidate for the North Dakota lieutenant governor, and, when in attendance at the 1964 North Dakota Republican state convention, passed away due to suffering a heart attack.
Matt Gaetz is named for his great-grandfather, who was Matthias Louis Gaetz.
The Gaetz family would move closer to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Gaetz would graduate from Niceville High School in 2000. He would then enroll at Florida State University and graduate early in 2003. Gaetz would also attend the William and Mary School of Law.
Personal Life
Matt Gaetz would enroll at Florida State University after his high school graduation in 2000. However, he completed his studies in just three years, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies. Gaetz would then enroll at the William and Mary School of Law. He obtained his Juris Doctor certification in 2007.
Matt Gaetz recently married the sister of Oculus VR founder, Ginger Luckey. Luckey’s brother, Palmer, is a major donor to Republican candidates.
Gaetz and his wife live in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He identifies as an evangelical Christian and a Baptist by faith.
At this time, the pair have no children.
Matt has one sister, Erin. She has worked in politics, somewhat. She was a director of digital content for the 2016 presidential campaign of Jeb Bush.
Age, Height, and Weight
Matt Gaetz is 39 years of age, and he is 5’7″ in height; he weighs approximately 160 lbs.
Net Worth
Although Matt Gaetz’ family is worth a great deal of money (some reports have the Don Gaetz family’s net worth at upwards of $30 million), Gaetz himself released financial documents that show his own personal net worth is closer to a number just shy of $400,000.
Much ado has been made over the fact that Matt Gaetz grew up in the house that was used to film Jim Carrey’s The Truman Show. The Gaetz family (Don and Victoria) still live in the house as of 2018. The Gaetz have placed a sign on the white picket fence outside their home that reads: “The Truman House.”
Career Outside of Politics
Once Gaetz graduated from William and Mary Law School with his Juris Doctor degree, Gaetz wored for the law firn Keefe, Anchors, and Gordon. The law firm is located in Fort Walton Beach, and is now known as Anchors Gordon.
Career in Politics
Gaetz entered politics just a mere three years after his graduation from law school. At that time, Republican state reporesentative Ray Sansom had been brought up on corruption charges. Sansom was forced to resign due to the investigation in 2010, and Gaetz threw his hat in the ring as a possible candidate. The district, which was comprised of Okaloosa County and Santa Rosa County in Florida, held a special election. Gaetz was not the only candidate vying for Sansom’s spot. Gaetz ran against notables Kabe Woods,Bill Garvie, Craig Barker and Jerry Melvin. Gaetz won 43 percent of the primary vote.
Later, a special general election was held to choose the candidate to fill Sansom’s seat. Gaetz faced Democratic candidate Jan Fernald. Gaetz defeated Fernald with 66 percent of the vote.
Gaetz raised more campaign money than his opponents in the Republican primary, and he out-raised his Democratic opponent. Gaetz would donate $100,000 of his own money to his campaign.
Gaetz would run again in 2010 for the same seat. He ran unopposed in that election cycle.
In 2012, Florida redrew its districts, and Gaetz’s district no longer held Santa Rosa County. However, Gaetz ran for his seat unopposed twice more in 2012 and 2014.
Gaetz has been known for his highly conservative views even while serving in the Florida state legislature. Gaetz and Florida state senator Joe Negron proposed legislation that would “hurry up” executions on Florida’s death row by requiring the governor to sign a death warrant for those who had run out of appeals.
Gaetz joined with state Senator Greg Evers in promoting legislation that would eliminate the federal ethanol mandate. Then-Governor Rick Scott would sign this proposal into law in May 2013.
In 2013, Gaetz announced that, in 2016, he would run for the 1st district State Senate seat held by his father, Don Gaetz, who was term-limited in 2016. On March 21, 2016, Gaetz withdrew from the race, choosing instead to run for the U.S. House seat representing Florida’s 1st congressional district; the incumbent, Jeff Miller, had announced 11 days earlier that he would not seek reelection.
On August 30, 2016, Gaetz won the Republican primary with 35.7 percent of the vote to Greg Evers’s 21.5 percent and Cris Dosev’s 20.6 percent, along with five other candidates. This virtually assured Gaetz of victory in the general election; with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+22, the 1st is Florida’s most Republican district, and one of the most Republican in the nation.
In the November 8 general election, Gaetz defeated Democratic nominee Steven Specht with 69 percent of the vote. He is only the seventh person to represent this district since 1933 (the district was numbered the 3rd before 1963).
He also resigned from two Florida House political action committees he had started and chaired; the PACs closed down and transferred $380,000 to a federal super-PAC, North Florida Neighbors, whose purpose was to support Gaetz’s congressional campaign.
Gaetz was listed as a member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership from at least January to June 2017.
Gaetz served as a top campaign adviser to Ron DeSantis during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign. He managed debate preparations and “drafted early administration organizational charts, helped steer early policy decisions and played a huge role in Ron DeSantis‘ appointments”, according to Politico.
In January 2018, Gaetz invited alt-right Holocaust denier Charles C. Johnson to attend Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Gaetz said that he had no preexisting relationship with Johnson and invited him to attend only when Johnson showed up at his office, giving him the ticket that Gaetz’s father could not use due to an illness. According to Johnson, he was invited by several members of Congress but took Gaetz’s invitation because “he’s into stuff on the issues that I care about.” Johnson previously raised money for the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer. Gaetz defended Johnson in an interview, saying that Johnson was neither a Holocaust denier nor a white supremacist.
After the 2020 State of the Union Address, Gaetz filed an ethics complaint against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, claiming she had committed a “flagrant violation of decorum” and perhaps broken the law when she ripped up her copy of the speech.
In February 2020, Gaetz announced that he will no longer accept campaign contributions from federal political action committees.
In 2021, Gaetz and Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene took a nationwide “America First Tour” beginning on May 7, in The Villages, where the residents were 98% white and 86% over 65 years old.[ During the tour, Gaetz and Greene repeated debunked claims of fraud in the 2020 election, attacked Big Tech and, at one event, claimed that the Second Amendment was for “maintaining, within the citizenry, the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government, if that becomes necessary.” As a consequence of the controversy the speakers had generated, their appearance at a conference site at Laguna Hills, in Orange County, California, was canceled.
In June 2021, Gaetz was one of 21 House Republicans to vote against a resolution to give the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6
