MIAMI — Rep. Matt Gaetz defeated his Republican primary opponent Tuesday in one in all Florida’s most conservative congressional districts, NBC News tasks, the place voters declined to carry a federal intercourse crimes investigation towards him.
Gaetz, the self-styled firebrand endorsed by former President Donald Trump who additionally managed Gov. Ron DeSantis’s transition crew in 2019, spent $1.1 million on native TV adverts to drive home his MAGA bonafides. Challenger Mark Lombardo spent at the very least $500,000 calling Gaetz’s character into query in three adverts.
But finally, Trump’s endorsement — and Gaetz’s deep roots and relentless campaigning in the district — carried the day for the incumbent, who served as a state consultant from the Panhandle space of Florida earlier than profitable his congressional seat in 2016.
Trump is dominant in the district, which he carried by greater than 33 proportion factors in 2020.
In one commercial, Lombardo insinuated, with out proof, that Gaetz was an informant who finally gave the FBI proof to execute a search warrant Aug. 8 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.
The advert additionally talked about the intercourse trafficking of a minor case that has been dogging Gaetz since final 12 months and falsely insinuated Gaetz wasn’t endorsed by Trump. Federal officers are wanting into whether or not Gaetz and an affiliate used the web to search out girls they may pay for intercourse and whether or not Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a minor he paid to journey with him, NBC News has beforehand reported. Gaetz has not been charged with against the law and has denied all accusations.
Another Lombardo ad performed up experiences of a sex-filled Bahamas trip that’s a part of the federal investigation into Gaetz.
The Trump-endorsement assault irritated Gaetz a lot that he hounded a Business Insider reporter on Twitter for printing it in a narrative. He later tweeted the textual content of a brand new endorsement from Trump, who had verbally issued an endorsement earlier than that.
Gaetz couldn’t be reached for remark.
A Department of Justice spokesperson couldn’t be reached for remark concerning the intercourse trafficking case, however the company sometimes doesn’t indict 90 days earlier than an election. In January, Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend testified earlier than a grand jury investigating him, however the case has seen no main motion since then.
Gaetz’s potential opponents are Democrat Peggy Schiller or former Florida well being division employee Rebekah Jones. Jones was briefly faraway from the poll over questions on her occasion {qualifications}, however an appeals courtroom reinstated her the day earlier than the election.
