Gaetz-McCarthy rival­ry takes cen­ter stage with Flori­da House pri­ma­ry

The long-stand­ing rival­ry between Rep. Matt Gaetz (R‑FL) and for­mer House Speak­er Kevin McCarthy will come to a head on Tues­day as Gaetz faces a McCarthy-backed pri­ma­ry chal­lenger.
Gaetz will face Repub­li­can Aaron Dim­mock, a retired Navy pilot who is backed by McCarthy. The race is per­son­al for the for­mer speak­er: McCarthy was oust­ed after Gaetz and sev­en oth­er House Repub­li­cans joined all Democ­rats in vot­ing to remove him from the top lead­er­ship posi­tion last fall.
The Free­dom Patri­ots PAC, which is con­nect­ed to McCarthy allies, has spent $3 mil­lion sup­port­ing Dim­mock and attack­ing Gaetz over a since-closed Jus­tice Depart­ment inves­ti­ga­tion into his alleged involve­ment in the sex traf­fick­ing of a 17-year-old girl. Gaetz, who has repeat­ed­ly denied the claims, still faces a House Ethics Com­mit­tee inves­ti­ga­tion into alleged sex­u­al mis­con­duct and ille­gal drug use.
He blames McCarthy per­son­al­ly for the House inves­ti­ga­tion.
“Usu­al­ly, I’v …