Matt Gaetz is now hinting that he plans to run to succeed Ron DeSantis as Florida governor

• Matt Gaetz withdrew from his legal tender on Thursday.

• But he has since the X hinted at a possible 2026 Florida gubernatorial run.

• Gov. Ron DeSantis of Floria is retiring in 2026.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz‘s bid for Attorney General may have been short-lived, but he appears to have his sights set on another big career move.

In a Saturday tweet, Florida State Rep. Anthony Sabatini on X his prediction that Gaetz would be the next governor of Florida. Gaetz responded to Sabatini with a gif of the Florida state flag.

Gaetz resigned from Congress in November after President-elect Donald Trump selected him as attorney general.

But that bid quickly turned sour when Gaetz became embroiled in a new scandal, including new developments in a long-running sex-trafficking investigation against him. DOJ declined to pursue charges against Gaetz in 2023, but the House Ethics Committee continued to investigate the allegations.

CNN reported on Thursday that Gaetz withdrew from consideration shortly after they contacted him for comment regarding an allegation that he had a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old at a party in 2017.

Gaetz has denied wrongdoing in the sex-trafficking investigation and the meeting. However, he withdrew himself from consideration for the attorney post on Thursday afternoon.

“While momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction from the critical work of the Trump/Vance transition,” Gaetz wrote on X Thursday.

After Gaetz resigned, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he appreciated Gaetz’s “efforts.”

“He did very well, but at the same time he did not want to be a distraction to the administration, which he has great respect for,” Trump wrote.

“Matt has a wonderful future and I look forward to seeing all the great things he will do!” Trump added.

Meanwhile in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is stepping down in 2026. DeSantis, a one-time Trump protégé, got on his former boss’s bad side when he started running a short-lived Elon-Musk-backed the presidential election against Trump.

Florida has had a continuous slate of Republican governors since Jeb Bush won his gubernatorial race in 1998.

It’s unclear what Gaetz’s chances would look like in 2026 if he were to run for governor. But Gaetz is now in the market for a new gig — he said last week he has no intention of running back to the 119th Congress, to which he was elected in November to represent Florida’s 1st Congressional District.

“I will still be in the game, but it will be from a new seat,” Gaetz told conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk last week.

“It seems like a pretty poetic time to allow that great new blood to come in, to allow my district to have high-quality representation,” Gaetz said, adding that he won’t be taking a “tropical excursion” for the rest of his term . life.

For now, it seems he’s enjoying some downtime – fishing, spending time with his wife, Ginger, and earn some money filming videos on Cameo like his former colleague, George Santos.

Gaetz did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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