Matt Gaetz as Attorney General

Kakistocracy in action

Donald Trump named Matt Gaetz as his pick for Attorney General yesterday.

I ran against Matt Gaetz in Florida’s 1st Congressional District in 2022.

I took a “know thy enemy” approach and successfully baited and triggered him throughout my campaign.

His whole “over-educated millennials who like cats” thing was about me. His insecurity about running against a woman better educated than him, better at TV than him, and willing/able to match his loudness pissed him off.

My run against Gaetz wasn’t entirely about him.

More than anything, I wanted to hold the line in the forgotten coast against DeSantis — which I did.

The only county DeSantis got fewer votes from in 2022 than he did in 2018 was in my district. The only county in the state which registered more new Democrats than Republicans was in my district.

Of all the Florida democrats running for Congress that cycle, including ones that won their elections, I was closest to Biden’s 2020 numbers than anyone else.

And I did all of that while being the only major party nominee in American history to be banned from Twitter during the entirety of my campaign. The ban was lifted the month after the election. The ban was put in place because I “over-shared” this Miami Herald article.

Matt made it personal for me when he bullied my 12-year-old autistic son on Facebook during the campaign. He had Larry Hetu, a foreign national, follow my son, take pictures of him, and harass him.

Both Matt and Hetu posted the pictures online. He got caught lying when he said we were at a campaign event while we were setting up for a healthcare expo, sharing a photo of my son with his head down, making fun of his lack of energy.

Despite calls for Matt to remove the posts on Twitter and Facebook, he didn’t. Even the event organizer spoke out.

Replies to Matt Gaetz' 2022 Facebook post mocking my son.

Hetu even followed my son into the bathroom at a county fair once, forcing us to call the police and apply for a restraining order against the man.

Matt rewarded Hetu by giving him a job in his congressional office and fast-tracking his US citizenship. A man who had, just months prior, been in court for stalking a child. Working for a Congressman and granted citizenship.

I got a little fired up about that one.

There are more stories like this about Matt than you might know.

I got to know Matt during my time campaigning against him.

I got to know other people who knew Matt, too.

I spoke to about a dozen people — including family, lifelong friends, and congressional staffers — for my piece on Gaetz from 2022.

Anyone in proximity to Gaetz will tell you that he’s not a serious lawmaker. He likes the drug, alcohol and sex-filled parties. He likes having authority and getting on TV. He doesn’t care about being in Congress. Hell, he doesn’t even show up most of the time.