Add one more name to the list of political figures considering running for the congressional seat in the Panhandle surrendered by Rep. Matt Gaetz: Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s elected chief financial officer, announced Tuesday he might join the race.
Patronis, who also serves as the state’s top fire official, said on social media that he was “strongly considering” running in the 1st Congressional District. Patronis has been the chief financial officer since 2017 and was last re-elected in 2022.
Gaetz, the firebrand Republican lawmaker, vacated the House seat after President-elect Donald Trump said he intended to appoint Gaetz as U.S. attorney general.
“We’ve got an historic opportunity to fight the swamp, end lawfare and return power back into the hands of Americans,” wrote Patronis, a member of the Cabinet in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration. Patronis did not immediately return a phone message left with his office in Tallahassee to answer questions about his prospective candidacy.
Others who said they also may run include Rep. Michelle Salzman, R- Cantonment; Army veteran John Frankman; Keith Gross, who lost the Republican primary this year for the U.S. Senate race; and Democrat Gay Valimont, who lost badly to Gaetz in this year’s election in the heavily Republican district.
Florida law requires a special election for vacant U.S. House seats.
DeSantis can hand-pick a replacement for Marco Rubio in the Senate, who was expected to leave to become Trump’s secretary of state. Gaetz resigned almost immediately from his House seat amid a vote by the chamber’s Ethics Committee on whether to release an investigative report into allegations against Gaetz of illegal drug use, payments for sex and sex with a minor.
Among the names circulating as potential candidates for Rubio’s Senate seat are Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, Attorney General Ashley Moody, former Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva, DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier, and Lara Trump, Republican National Committee co-chair and Trump’s daughter-in-law.
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