Matt Gaetz enters the 2024 election cycle having ushered in Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, subsequent retirement and an even slimmer Republican majority — actions that garnered him plenty of detractors among his Republican colleagues. But there might be enough in Gaetz’s campaign coffers to validate those actions last fall.
In a newly released campaign finance report, Gaetz raised $259,467 in the first week of October alone — the week McCarthy was removed as Speaker — one of his highest for the year. He raised $1,808,719 in the three months following, nearly matching the contributions he received across the first nine months of the year. In total, his team raised $3.85 million for Friends of Matt Gaetz, his official campaign committee, in 2023.
Gaetz’s fundraising numbers show that his most high-profile moments of 2023 also proved to be his most lucrative. He fundraised heavily off the 15 votes it took to elect McCarthy as Speaker of the House in January of last year. That turned out to be another high point for his war chest, adding $50,000 in his two highest days of the first quarter.