


Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy endorsed Rep. Matt Gaetz‘s (R-FL) primary challenger in Florida’s 1st Congressional District in the latest instance of hostility between the two men.
Aaron Dimmock, a former Naval officer, declared his candidacy less than two weeks ago. Now, he has the backing of one of the most notable Republicans in recent memory.
“Gaetz is the Hunter Biden of the Republican Party,” McCarthy told Politico. “He’s got an opponent who is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, trained at Pensacola, went to the Naval Academy, and flew jets to defend us while Gaetz was getting kicked out of high school, buying coke, and paying minors for sex.”
McCarthy’s endorsement of Dimmock may not sway voters much in a district Gaetz won by over 100,000 votes in 2022, but it comes as a notable new chapter in the feud between the two Republicans.
McCarthy has his reasons for a vendetta against Gaetz, who led the successful attempt to oust the former speaker.
McCarthy has previously said Gaetz led the ouster to stop an ethics probe into the Florida Republican, which was looking into alleged sex and other crimes. Gaetz has denied the allegations, and a Department of Justice investigation into several allegations was closed without any criminal charges.
Gaetz responded to the endorsement by urging McCarthy to campaign with “DEI Dimmock” in northwest Florida.
The DEI remark refers to Dimmock’s social media activity, including voicing support for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and supporting DEI in the past.
A Dimmock campaign spokesperson responded by telling the outlet that Gaetz’s “desperation oozes out of every baseless claim he makes as he attempts to distract voters from his disastrous tenure in Congress.”
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The Republican primary is scheduled for Aug. 20.
The likely winner of the Republican primary, Gaetz, will face Democratic challenger Gay Valimont in November.