According to reports, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is expected to run for Florida governor in 2026.

Ron DeSantis ends his second term in January 2027 and cannot run for reelection.

The Florida congressman is believed to be one of the contenders to throw his hat in the race for the Republican nomination for governor.

That’s the rumor floating around Tallahassee.

NBC News had the report:

Gaetz, like most other Florida Republican politicians, was in Tallahassee for the designation ceremony of Miami Republican state Rep. Danny Perez, who starting next year will serve as speaker of the Florida House.

As part of those festivities, Perez held a reception Sunday night at an AC Hotel by Marriott near the city’s downtown. At the event Gaetz was seen “kind of holding court,” and he strongly implied several times he would be running for governor, four people at the event told NBC News.

According to a Florida Republican lobbyist, Gaetz essentially told attendees “expect him to be in.”

Gaetz reportedly wouldn’t disclose his intentions to the outlet and said his current focus is getting Donald Trump elected president in 2024.

Cont. from NBC News:

“Many did encourage me to consider running for governor one day,” Gaetz said of the Sunday evening event. “But we have an outstanding governor who will be in that position through 2026.”

“My only political focus right now is Trump 2024,” he added.

Gaetz was a top adviser to DeSantis’ 2018 gubernatorial bid, but the two have since had a falling out. Gaetz has become among the most vocal backers of Trump, whose presidential campaign now leads in most primary polling by significant margins over the rest of the field.

“President Trump put it best when he wrote on Truth Social that House Republicans don’t need an ‘inquiry’ to prove Joe Biden’s corruption, ‘it’s already proven,'” Gaetz wrote in a Newsweek op-ed.

“We have the evidence. It’s time to impeach Joe Biden. Not following through on an impeachment of Joe Biden would be a dereliction of duty,” Gaetz said.

Gaetz writes at Newsweek:

Here’s the reality: As Vice President, Joe Biden changed U.S. foreign policy to the benefit of a Ukrainian business paying Hunter Biden.

There is a plethora of evidence showing this. Let’s go through it.

In May 2014, Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma. He was paid at least $1 million per year for this role. Burisma wasn’t just any old company. State Department officials thought Burisma and its owner were corrupt. One official said, “Burisma’s owner was a poster child for corrupt behavior.”

A year after Hunter joined the Burisma board, then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with Hunter Biden and Vadym Pozharsky, an executive at Burisma, at a swanky restaurant in D.C. At the time, Burisma was under investigation by Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin for corruption.

In December of 2015, Hunter Biden had a pivotal meeting at the Four Seasons in Dubai with Burisma owner Mykola Zlochesvky and Pozharsky. They asked him if the Obama-Biden administration could interfere in the investigation against Burisma.

Hunter’s business partner and fellow Burisma board member Devon Archer told the House Oversight Committee that the Burisma executives asked Hunter if “D.C.” can “help” them deal with the prosecutor’s probe. Devon Archer said he was told by Pozharsky that Hunter “called D.C.”

After Hunter’s call to DC, then-Vice President Biden traveled to Kyiv and “threatened to withhold $1 billion in United States loan guarantees if Ukraine’s leaders did not dismiss the country’s top prosecutor” Viktor Shokin, according to the New York Times.

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