Can Matt Gaetz return to Congress? He says he won’t.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida says he doesn’t intend to return to Congress in January, after resigning from his seat and withdrawing from consideration as U.S. attorney general. 

Gaetz announced his withdrawal Thursday, citing the distraction his impending nomination was causing, and President-elect Donald Trump soon afterward said former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi would be his new pick for the job. But Gaetz won reelection to his U.S. House seat earlier this month, so there were some questions about whether he was considering a return to Congress in January. 

But Gaetz told conservative personality Charlie Kirk on Friday that he doesn’t intend to go back to Congress, though he vowed to continue to fight for Trump and do “whatever he asks of me.”

“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch,” Gaetz told Kirk. “I do not intend to join the 119th Congress. … Charlie, I’ve been in an elected office for 14 years. I first got elected to the state house when I was 26 years old, and I’m 42 now, and I’ve got some other goals in life that I’m eager to pursue with my wife and my family, and so I’m going to be fighting for President Trump. I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.”

But it may not be the end of his political career. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, first elected in 2018, will not be running again in 2026, since he’s limited by law to two terms as the state’s chief executive. 

Gaetz stepped down from Congress as the House Ethics Committee was weighing whether to release the report from its yearslong investigation into sexual misconduct and illegal drug use allegations. The committee lacked sufficient votes to release the report earlier this week but will, according to Democratic Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, reconvene on Dec. 5 to “further consider” the matter. 

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