Who is Matt Gaetz? How Old? Where From?.... Matthew Louis Gaetz II[2] (/ˈɡeɪts/ GAYTS; born May 7, 1982) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 1st congressional district since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, his district covers a large portion of the western Florida Panhandle, including Pensacola, Destin, Navarre and his hometown, Fort Walton Beach.
Matthew Louis Gaetz II (/ˈɡeɪts/ GAYTS; born May 7, 1982) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 1st congressional district since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, his district covers a large portion of the western Florida Panhandle, including Pensacola, Destin, Navarre and his hometown, Fort Walton Beach.
From 2010 to 2016, Gaetz represented Florida's 4th House district in the Florida House of Representatives, which includes most of Okaloosa County. He successfully ran for the U.S. House in 2016, and was re-elected by large margins in 2018 and 2020. While in the House, he became known as a strong ally and supporter of President Donald Trump.
Matthew L. Gaetz II was born on May 7, 1982, in Hollywood, Florida, to Victoria Quertermous and Don Gaetz, who later became a prominent local politician. Gaetz grew up near Fort Walton Beach, and graduated from Niceville High School in 2000. He graduated from Florida State University in 2003 with a B.S. in interdisciplinary sciences and then received a J.D. from the College of William & Mary Law School in 2007.
Gaetz's father represented parts of northwest Florida as a member of the Florida State Senate from 2006 to 2016 and was Senate president from 2012 to 2014. Gaetz's grandfather, Jerry Gaetz, was the mayor of Rugby, North Dakota, and a candidate for lieutenant governor of North Dakota at the 1964 North Dakota Republican Party state convention, where he died of a heart attack.
After graduating from law school, Gaetz worked at a law firm in Fort Walton Beach.
In 2013, Gaetz announced that, in 2016, he would run for the 1st District state senate seat then held by his father, Don Gaetz, who would be term-limited out of the Senate in 2016. On March 21, 2016, Gaetz withdrew from the race, choosing instead to run for the U.S. House seat representing Florida's 1st congressional district; the incumbent, Jeff Miller, had announced 11 days earlier that he would not seek reelection.