Matt Gaetz resigns from Congress after Attorney General nomination

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz has resigned from Congress, “effective immediately,” House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Wednesday, just hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced he was tapping Gaetz for U.S. Attorney General.
“He issued his resignation letter effective immediately from Congress,” Johnson said during a press conference Wednesday night. “That caught us by surprise a little bit.”
Johnson said Gaetz’s abrupt resignation allowed for a faster special election in Northwest Florida to replace him and shore up the thin Republican majority in the House.
“If you start the clock now, if you do the math, we may be able to fill that seat as early as Jan. 3 when we take the new oath of office for the new Congress,” Johnson said.
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It’ll be up to Gov. Ron DeSantis to set a special election date to fill Gaetz’s seat.
The move also likely ends any further inquiry from a House Ethics probe into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Gaetz has vehemently denied the accusation and has publicly blamed the Department of Justice for leaking the allegations to the press, a department he will lead if his appointment is confirmed by the Senate.
Rep. Michael Guest, R-Mississippi, chairman of the House Ethics Committee, told reporters before Gaetz’s resignation that any congressional ethics inquiries into Gaetz would end if the Senate confirms him and he resigns from Congress, the New York Times reported.
The committee could still release a report on its probe.
Florida’s 1st Congressional District is considered to be a safe Republican seat. Gaetz has easily been able to win re-election from the seat in two elections despite becoming a nationally controversial figure. But with an open seat, it’ll likely be hotly contested among Northwest Florida Republicans. The last time the seat was open in 2016, Gaetz emerged as the winner out of a field of six other candidates in the Republican primary. 
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State Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, already made a public statement saying she was considering running after receiving phone calls and texts from people she respects encouraging her to run.
“I am going to weigh my options and seriously consider it,” Salzman said. “I love representing Northwest Florida and getting things done. It is an honor serve as a State Representative, so I am already doing what I love to do.”
The USA TODAY Network contributed to this report.