The Republican establishment is trying to retake control of the party.
Conservatives are not going away without a fight.
And Lauren Boebert celebrated one big win over the GOP establishment in Florida.
Kevin McCarthy went on a revenge tour against conservatives who ousted him
Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been on a revenge tour in House Republican Primaries against the eight conservatives who ousted him last October.
Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a motion to vacate the chair in October 2023 that resulted in McCarthy being removed as Speaker.
The former Speaker spent his career in the House climbing the ladder of leadership until he reached the top.
But his Speakership was gone in a flash when Gaetz and seven other House Republicans voted to oust him for failing to include spending cuts in government funding bills.
McCarthy resigned from Congress last December and began plotting to target Gaetz and his allies in Republican Primaries.
He began recruiting GOP Primary challengers and funding super PACs to target them.
McCarthy’s highly touted revenge tour has been a flop.
The only House Republican to lose a Primary this year who voted to oust was Representative Bob Good (R-VA) who narrowly lost for reasons unrelated to the former Speaker.
Good, endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the Republican Presidential Primary and former President Donald Trump endorsed Good’s GOP Primary challenger.
The rest of the House Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy easily won their primaries, retired, or did not face a challenger.
Gaetz was the last stop on the House Speaker’s revenge tour with its late August Primary.
Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert celebrate his big win
McCarthy recruited former Naval aviator Aaron Dimmock to run against Gaetz in Florida’s First Congressional District.
This challenge had problems from the start.
Dimmock lived and worked in Missouri.
He worked as a business consultant where he praised diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
The Freedom Patriots PAC, a super PAC aligned with McCarthy, spent more than $3 million attacking Gaetz in the Primary.
Gaetz hammered Dimmock for his support for DEI and living in Missouri.
Send DEI Dimmock home to Missouri pic.twitter.com/GjPcy1FvIv
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) July 24, 2024
“Meet liberal DEI instructor, Aaron Dimmock,” a Gaetz ad stated. “Dimmock lives in Missouri. Dimmock signed a residency pledge in Missouri this year, then he used a Missouri driver’s license to run for office here.”
“Dimmock teaches radical liberal ideology to DEI groups in Missouri and even gets paid by the Missouri government while running for office,” the ad continued. “Even Missouri’s leaders are concerned about what’s going on. Stand with Trump, send DEI Dimmock home to Missouri.”
Gaetz cruised to victory in the Primary with a 72.5% to 24% blowout win over Dimmock.
Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO), one of his conservative allies was on hand to celebrate his victory.
“Watching the numbers come in with my Congressional bestie!!” Boebert wrote on X. “CONGRATS [Matt Gaetz] on the MASSIVE win!!”
Watching the numbers come in with my Congressional bestie!!
CONGRATS @mattgaetz on the MASSIVE win!! 💪 pic.twitter.com/ncxGC39KJN
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) August 21, 2024
Matt Gaetz won his 2024 Primary by a bigger margin than in 2022 after Kevin McCarthy spent $3 million attacking him.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
