1. Donald Jay Gaetz is an American businessman and Republican politician who has been a member of the Florida State Senate since 2024, representing parts of Northwest Florida.
18 Facts About Don Gaetz
1. 2.
Don Gaetz previously served from 2006 to 2016 and was Senate president from 2012 to 2014.
3.
Jerry Don Gaetz was a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota at the 1964 North Dakota Republican Party state convention, where he died of a heart attack while his son watched television coverage of the event.
4.
Don Gaetz attended the Evangelical Lutheran-affiliated Concordia College, graduating with his bachelor's degree in religion and political science, and then Troy State University, receiving his Master of Public Administration in education before moving to the state of Florida in 1978.
5.
Shortly after receiving his master's degree, Don Gaetz worked in Jacksonville as a hospital administrator, and lobbied the legislature to create hospice care programs for the dying.
6.
In 1983, Don Gaetz founded VITAS Healthcare Corporation with a group of investors, which he later sold for nearly half a billion dollars in 2004.
7.
In 1994, Don Gaetz ran for the Okaloosa County School Board, receiving the Republican nomination and then challenging incumbent school board member Jean Long, the Democratic nominee, and Susan Matuska, the Libertarian nominee, in the general election.
8.
Don Gaetz opted to run for Okaloosa County superintendent of schools in 2000, and faced David Morgan, the principal of Niceville High School, in the Republican primary.
9.
When incumbent state senator Charlie Clary was unable to seek re-election in 2006 due to term limits, Don Gaetz ran to succeed him in the 4th District, which stretched from Pensacola to Panama City, including parts of southern Bay County, Escambia County, Okaloosa County, Santa Rosa County, and Walton County.
10.
Don Gaetz was initially set to face state representative Holly Benson in the Republican primary, but Benson ultimately declined to run, and Gaetz won the nomination, and then the general election, unopposed.
11.
Don Gaetz sponsored legislation that would have expanded Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test material to include social studies, broadened the group of people determining state standards, granted honors diplomas to high-achieving test takers, and taught world languages in elementary schools.
12.
In 2012, following the reconfiguration of the state's legislative districts, Don Gaetz was drawn into the 1st District, which included much of the territory that he had previously represented but dropped the extension into Pensacola for an inclusion of Holmes County, Jackson County, and Washington County.
13.
Don Gaetz won the Republican nomination uncontested; in the general election he faced independent candidate Richard Harrison.
14.
Don Gaetz was appointed by the Senate to the Constitution Revision Commission and by the House of Representatives as a member and current chairman of Triumph Gulf Coast, a $1.5 billion economic development and recovery fund for coastal Northwest Florida.
15.
Don Gaetz was appointed by the president of the Senate to serve on the Florida Commission on Ethics until 2024.
16.
In October 2023, Don Gaetz announced that he would run again in his old seat in the 2024 Florida Senate election to succeed term-limited Republican incumbent Doug Broxson.
17.
In 2013, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against VITAS for allegedly committing Medicare fraud since 2002, when Don Gaetz still worked at the company.
18.
Don Gaetz has two children; his son, Matt Don Gaetz, served as a member of the US House of Representatives, and his daughter, Erin, was director of digital content for Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign.