Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the right-wing representative under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, took time from celebrating his overwhelming primary election win Tuesday to give a mocking shoutout to his nemesis, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
“Sign me up for the next Revenge Tour,” Gaetz posted on social media Tuesday night.
Gaetz was highlighting the survival of most of the GOP legislatorsthat McCarthy had dubbed “the crazy eight,” the Gaetz-led group of Republicans who had voted with Democrats to get rid of McCarthy back in October. McCarthy, a former representative from Bakersfield, California, was the first speaker ever ousted by a floor vote in House history.
The ouster set off an embarrassing three-week power struggle within the House Republican Conference to find a successor, culminating in the election of current Speaker Mike Johnson. But it also led to a threat from McCarthy that he would try to use his well-known fundraising prowess to help primary opponents of the eight GOPers, an effort that was nicknamed his “revenge tour.”
Ten months later, that tour seems to have ended not with a bang but with a whimper.
At his post-election victory party, Gaetz told his supporters McCarthy had raised $3 million to help his opponent, Aaron Dimmock, only to see Gaetz’s share of the primary vote rise from 70% in 2022 to almost 73%.
“So Kevin, if you’re watching, spend a little more next time and we’ll get to 80 [percent]!” Gaetz said.
The race was an ignominious end to McCarthy’s efforts, which he first hinted at soon after his ouster.
“I’m not quite sure those individuals are looking to be productive,” he said after the October vote of the Republicans who sided against him. “The trustworthiness of a lot of individuals makes it difficult.”
At the time, McCarthy said he understood why Democrats would vote to oust him, especially given his ability to raise money for the GOP. But he added, “The real question to the eight is, why would you enable and allow Democrats to do it?”
McCarthy has accused Gaetz of leading the ouster effort to pressure McCarthy to end an ethics panel investigation of the Florida representative, which he has denied.
Gaetz spent about two years under investigation by federal prosecutors for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old girl who was the victim of sex trafficking. While one of Gaetz’s former friends, Joel Greenberg, was sentenced to prison for trafficking and had reportedly agreed to help the government, prosecutors dropped Gaetz from the investigation in 2023.
In a rare public statement on its activities released June 18, the House Ethics Committee said it was probing allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, took improper gifts, dispensed favors to people with whom he had a personal relationship and tried to obstruct government investigators. Gaetz has denied those allegations.
Aside from Gaetz’s win, the primary results of the other seven House Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy were:
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Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), 80.5% of the vote
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Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), unopposed
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Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), resigned before primary
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Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), unopposed
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Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), 49.7% of the vote
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Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), 56.8% of the vote
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Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), did not run for reelection
The one who lost, Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, fell to a Donald Trump-endorsed opponent in a very close race that went to a recount.
Despite being targeted by McCarthy, the representatives who won their races did so, at least in part, by saying they were running against him. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said during her primary campaign that McCarthy had recruited a woman candidate she called “Jeb Bush in heels” to run against her.
“He thinks he can buy this primary with outside money from D.C.,” she posted on social media in February.
Speaking to The New York Times in July, Brian O. Walsh, a McCarthy ally, made few bones about McCarthy’s objectives in funding intraparty primary fights.
“We said there would be consequences, and we are persistent and very patient,” Walsh said.
But it’s doubtful McCarthy expected the final results, though, when he hinted in October that he might go after his foes.
“I told the [House GOP] conference I’m a free agent now,” he said to reporters confidently at the time. “I think I’m pretty good at electing people.”
