U.S. Rep Matt Gaetz defeats Democratic challenger Rebekah Jones, retains District 1 seat

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz fended off Democratic challenger Rebekah Jones to win a fourth term to the First Congressional District representing the Florida Panhandle.

Gaetz took 196,494 votes, roughly 68%, compared to Jones' 93,178, or 32%, according to unofficial election results as of Wednesday morning.

Gaetz was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016, and was reelected in 2018 and 2020. Previously he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2010 to 2016.

In recent years, Gaetz has cemented his national profile as a pro-Trump firebrand, bringing some of the biggest MAGA names with him on the campaign trail.

The 2022 race was never considered competitive — First Congressional District voters haven't elected a Democrat to Congress since at least 1995 — but it garnered a lot of attention due to the high profile of two of Florida's most colorful political candidates.

Gaetz, a lawyer and son of former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, has been embroiled in a long-running sex-trafficking investigation that started in late 2020 and focused on his alleged involvement with a 17-year-old girl several years earlier. He has denied wrongdoing and said he has never paid for sex, and the Justice Department is expected not to formally charge Gaetz in the case.

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Jones is a former Florida data scientist who accused the Health Department of intentionally falsifying pandemic data on behalf of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The claims were rejected as unfounded by an inspector general's report.

Jones came to national prominence during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic after she was fired from her position with the Florida Department of Health. Jones said she was fired for speaking out about what she said was the state's manipulation of COVID-19 data, while state officials said she was fired for insubordination.

In the only debate between the two candidates, Jones alluded indirectly to the federal sex-trafficking investigation that ensnared Gaetz. She said he had "voted against almost every sex-trafficking bill that was ever brought to Congress." She said Gaetz in his last two terms had failed to pass any bills, although that was when Democrats controlled the House. Under Republicans, Gaetz during his first term sponsored at least four amendments that passed on minor issues.

Jones is facing her own legal issues, including a felony charge of accessing a computer system without or exceeding authorization, after she was accused of causing a state government messaging service to send two texts in November 2020 criticizing the handling of the pandemic to 1,750 people, months after she was fired from her job at the health department. Her criminal trial is set for Jan. 23, just weeks after new House members in Washington are sworn in.

During the debate, Gaetz promised to "work hard with America-First Republicans to retake the House of Representatives, to get our fiscal house in order, to stop this reckless spending and to get our economy back to that roaring Trump economy that had everyone in northwest Florida doing so well."

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Jones promised construction of a new Veterans Affairs hospital in Northwest Florida during her first term if she were elected.

"If I do nothing else in my first term, it will be to get that hospital built," she said.

Gaetz said he would consider abolishing the Department of Veterans Affairs to let service members and veterans seek government-funded health care from private doctors.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Matt Gaetz beats Rebekah Jones in Florida 1st Congressional District