Last Friday, Aaron Dimmock, the director of executive development for the UWF Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis and Overholtz Center for Leadership, jumped in the GOP primary to take on Rep. Matt Gaetz.
- Dimmock is a retired Navy officer and aviator, and it appears that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy recruited him to take on Gaetz. According to the New York Times, Dimmock’s campaign committee shares a treasurer with American Patriots PAC, a group that was used by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy to support candidates who were aligned with him in the 2022 midterms.
Gaetz led the effort that ultimately ousted McCarthy from the speakership.
Who is Dimmock? A graduate of the United States Naval Academy that served as a pilot for the P-3 surveillance plane for the Navy. He deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo and had completed several tours in the Middle East. He flew surveillance missions over New York City in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.
He became an instructor pilot, later worked as a recruiting officer and closed out his career as a Navy liaison in the Pentagon.
Gaetz Responds: Gaetz mocks and attacks Dimmock: Matt Gaetz didn’t waste time going after his opponent and feeding media sources dirt on Dimmock.
The congressman called out Dimmock’s LinkedIn posts that he said showed his support for racial diversity and the Black Lives Matter movement
Gaetz posted on X: “Meet Aaron W. Dimmock. The B.L.M. supporting D.E.I. instructor running against me in the Republican Primary. I knew former Representative McCarthy would be getting a puppet of his to run. I didn’t know it would be a Woke Toby Flenderson!”
Media coverage:
“Matt Gaetz Primary challenger Aaron Dimmock tied to Kevin McCarthy” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics
Matt Gaetz gets Primary challenge from McCarthy-aligned BLM supporter” via Henry Rogers of the Daily Caller
Steve, anyone who actually cares about landing things on the ground for this area has more of an investment in it than how Gaetz uses a constituency he grossly neglects by whipping them into a populist fervor.
For long stretches, a rock has done as much for our area as Gaetz; a nice dog does more.
Are you sure it’s not your white nationalist bent that stirs your support for Gaetz, given his involvement with the Proud Boys?
I saw that you were the first one in with the emoticon on a Facebook “July is #WhitePrideMonth” post. Perhaps you can catch up with him to discuss your mutual love of White people in one of the outlying areas he uses to skirt Pensacola when he sets foot in his district on anything other than personal time.
Not sure how he can have a beeter investment in or understanding of our community. According to his Linked In profile going back to 2002, his only connection to this area is his job at UWF which began last September, only 7 months ago. In addition, he still lists active positions with 3 other companies in 3 different states.
The only connection “to our area” that a lot of people can ascertain Matt Gaetz has is ignoring his representation of it.
Aaron Dimmock no doubt has a lot better understanding of what’s going on here than Gaetz. He possesses a crucial prerequisite to that knowledge that Gaetz will never have, which is actually having an investment in what happens here.
Gaetz could care less about his constituents’ desires, needs, and quality of life. Being our “representative” is simply his ticket to the big top, nothing more. Every registered republican who can vote in the primary should think long and hard before voting for Gaetz. Don’t want to run afoul of him or his father? Nobody has to know who you check the box for, in the end. As DeSantis well learned in the Florida presidential primary.
The continued support of the Gaetz family grift is very revealing of the character of NWFL republican voters.
No mention of Dimmock on the UWF website. A story I found online says that he still works in Missouri. VoterRecords.com shows only one Aaron W. Dimmock voter in Florida. Voter Status is described as “Inactive.” The Residential Address is in Orange Park, FL. The Mailing Address is in Chesterfield, MO. He provided his Missouri Drivers License as proof of identify for his congressional candidate oath of office. For eight years he has run a consulting company based in Cicero, IN. Is he a permanent resident of Florida’s 1st Congressional District and if so for how long? Some max fact-checking seems in order.
Dimmock will be speaking in St. Louis on June 13th if anyone wants to fly up to hear him:
https://shrmstl.org/meetinginfo.php?id=196&ts=1713801844
Being recruited and supported by someone, Kevin McCarthy, that has no connection to our area will not bode well for Dimmock. Further, he has less than four months to campaign before the ’24 primary.