Who is Matt Gaetz, the Republican who toppled a speaker?

Rep. Matt Gaetz on Tuesday succeeded where no Republican has before: He nearly single-handedly ousted a sitting House speaker.

To be sure, Gaetz had help, with a critical handful of Republicans joining him and all House Democrats opting to go along in toppling Kevin McCarthy as a GOP leader.

But Gaetz is undoubtedly the ringleader of the anti-McCarthy effort, establishing himself as a force in the House despite widespread GOP grumbling about his past and, critics say, his craving the spotlight as he did Tuesday leading the charge on the House floor.

Where Gaetz goes from here is unclear, but it seems clear he will no longer be considered a mere backbencher.

Here's how Gaetz, 41, rose from Florida state politics -- to someone many in Washington considered a conservative gadfly -- to now a power broker to be reckoned with.

Rise in Florida

Gaetz, an attorney, first ran for the Florida state House in 2010 after former GOP state Rep. Ray Sansom resigned over corruption charges, winning a crowded GOP primary by garnering vastly more resources than his opponents.

His victory helped him join his father in the state legislature, where he served as a state senator from 2006-2016, including a stint as chamber president from 2012-2014.

During his time in the state House, Gaetz supported several traditional GOP bills, including supporting the state's "stand your ground" law and expediting executions of prisoners on Florida's death row.

Gaetz served in the state House through 2016, during which time he endorsed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's presidential bid, though he ultimately became a close supporter of Donald Trump, who ended up winning the 2016 GOP primary and, ultimately, the White House.

U.S. House career

Gaetz had intended to run for the state Senate seat held by his father in 2016, but he opted instead to run in Florida's 1st Congressional District after then-Rep. Jeff Miller, another Republican, said he would not seek another term.

He again won the primary and has since handily held onto his ruby red House seat in the northwest part of the state, which borders Alabama.

During his tenure thus far in the House, Gaetz established himself as a hard-liner and MAGA Republican, though he at times bucked party orthodoxy.

As a Trump loyalist, Gaetz has voiced support for conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was marred by fraud, and he has been close allies with other hardliners Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene -- though the two have diverged over their support for McCarthy, whom Greene has backed.

Gaetz has also been a vocal backer of impeaching President Joe Biden over claims he helped direct and profited from his son's business while he was vice president, though Republicans have not presented evidence of that.

He's also proven a knack for the theatrical, including once wearing a gas mask on the House floor during the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Gaetz rebuffed traditional conservative stances on issues like marijuana, which he supports removing from the Controlled Substances Act.

Gaetz's status as a House member was thrown into controversy in 2021 after it was reported that federal investigators were looking into a 2018 trip to the Bahamas and whether escorts were sexually trafficked there for Gaetz, including a 17-year-old girl.

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that he never paid for sex or had any relations with an underage girl.

The Justice Department, following a yearslong sex-trafficking, informed Gaetz in February that it would not bring charges against him.

Feud with McCarthy erupts in speakership battle

Much of Gaetz's time in the House has been characterized by bad blood with McCarthy, which for years was one of Congress' worst-kept secrets, although Gaetz insists his drive to remove McCarthy isn't personal.

It's unclear precisely what the source of the animus is, though McCarthy has suggested that Gaetz may blame him for the House Ethics Committee inquiry into allegations that Gaetz broke sex-trafficking laws -- a probe launched in 2021 when Democrats controlled the House but reopened this past July when the GOP had control, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The feud between the two erupted earlier this year when Gaetz helped spearhead opposition to McCarthy's speakership push, forcing the Californian to undergo an unprecedented 15 rounds of voting before clinching the gavel.

During that fight, Gaetz offered floor speeches tearing into McCarthy, accusing him of "[selling] shares of himself for more than a decade."

McCarthy repeatedly sniped at Gaetz in September after it became clear that the Floridian would trigger a motion to vacate -- a move that Gaetz said was fueled by frustration over a recent stopgap government funding bill, an explanation that McCarthy batted away.

"He's blaming me for an ethics complaint against him that happened in the last Congress," McCarthy said on CNBC Tuesday. "I have nothing to do with it."

"He wants me to try to wipe that away," McCarthy added. "I'm not going to do that. That's illegal."

"And you know what? If some way I lose my job because I uphold the law [and the] continuity of government, so be it."

Critics decry Gaetz's actions

Gaetz's starring role in the latest House drama has earned him his fair share of GOP critics, many of whom say Gaetz's opposition to McCarthy is driven more by a desire for attention rather than any ideological north star.

"Gaetz is really a polarizing figure in the party and does a lot of damage with this thoughts and comments. Apparently, this vote is gonna just either further divide within the Republican construct in the House. It's not helpful. It certainly doesn't help us focus on the issues that everyday voters care about," Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a presidential contender, said Tuesday in Texas.

"If Gaetz were simply a loudmouthed junior member who attacked McCarthy every day, that would be fine, too. He would just be isolated with a small group of lawmakers who can’t figure out how to get things done. They’d huddle together seeking warmth and reassurance from their fellow incompetents. But Gaetz has gone beyond regular drama. He is destroying the House GOP’s ability to govern and draw a sharp contrast with the policy disasters of the Biden administration," added former Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., in a Washington Post op-ed headlined, "Republicans must expel Matt Gaetz."