Gaetz gets last-minute Flori­da GOP pri­ma­ry chal­lenger in boost to McCarthy allies

For­mer Cal­i­for­nia Rep. Kevin McCarthy has a chance for revenge against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R‑FL) in the form of a GOP pri­ma­ry chal­lenger in the 2024 elec­tion.
For­mer naval offi­cer and avi­a­tor Aaron Dim­mock filed his paper­work on Fri­day, the dead­line, to run against Gaetz, who led a coali­tion of sev­en oth­er House GOP mem­bers to join all Democ­rats in oust­ing McCarthy last fall. Dim­mock is the direc­tor of lead­er­ship pro­grams at the Uni­ver­si­ty of West Florida’s Ayl­stock, Witkin, Kreis & Over­holtz Cen­ter for Lead­er­ship.
Dimmock’s entry is a win for McCarthy and his allies, who have long crit­i­cized Gaetz for the for­mer speaker’s removal as being per­son­al­ly moti­vat­ed. Gaetz had accused McCarthy of mak­ing a “back deal” with Democ­rats to pass a con­tin­u­ing res­o­lu­tion, but the …