Mike Rogers of Alabama appeared to lunge toward Matt Gaetz of Florida on the House floor during the 14th round of voting for speaker on Jan. 6, 2023. Richard Hudson of North Carolina pulled Rogers back as the confrontation unfolded in the middle of the vote that eventually elected Kevin McCarthy.
John Leganski’s account
John Leganski, a longtime congressional aide who managed the House floor for Kevin McCarthy, recounts the scene in a book. He says Gaetz was among six far-right Republicans trying to block McCarthy, while Rogers was in line to chair the armed services panel.
That day, Gaetz had pressed for a subcommittee chairmanship on the Armed Services Committee. When McCarthy urged him to help finish the vote so members could get home to personal obligations, Gaetz replied, “I don’t think you understand,” and, “That does not concern me whatsoever. Personal appeals have no effect on me.”
Jan. 6, 2023 vote
Leganski’s account says Gaetz voted present on the 14th ballot around 11 p.m., then Rogers moved toward him and yelled, “Matt, I won’t forget this,” before Hudson held him back. McCarthy was elected speaker later that night after Republicans had won control of the House in the 2022 midterms.
The book places the episode inside a House speaker election that stretched across four days and exposed the narrow margins inside House GOP. The confrontation came while the chamber was still trying to settle on a speaker, which left little room between negotiation and confrontation on the floor.
Gaetz and Rogers
Two days later, Gaetz offered his forgiveness to Rogers. Rogers then apologized on X and wrote that he “briefly lost [his] temper.” The exchange closed the immediate dispute even as the larger fight over McCarthy’s speakership remained unresolved in the months that followed.
What the book leaves hanging is the precise spark for Rogers’ move toward Gaetz. What it does show is that the House floor argument did not end with the vote itself; it carried into the private aftermath, then resurfaced again when Gaetz led the charge to remove McCarthy in October 2023.
