A special election to determine his successor will occur on April 1.
Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) will resign from Congress on Jan. 20, 2025, also Inauguration Day, to become President-elect Donald Trump’s national security advisor, a source familiar told The Epoch Times.
Waltz has represented Florida’s 6th Congressional District since January 2019, succeeding Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. A special election to determine his successor in the House will occur on April 1, along with the special election to fill former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) seat.
Waltz served in the Army for 27 years and joined tours in the Middle East and Africa.
In Congress, he sits on the House Intelligence Select Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, and House Armed Services Committee. He is also a member of the House China Task Force.
Waltz will be tasked with dealing with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. He has called for an end to the former and, when it comes to the latter, he has supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
“Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda, and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!” said Trump in a Nov. 12 statement announcing Waltz as his national security advisor.
Waltz was a counterterrorism advisor to former Vice President Dick Cheney and was defense policy director under former Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.
Waltz is married to Julia Nesheiwat, who was Trump’s homeland security advisor for part of his presidency. Trump picked Waltz’s sister-in-law, Janette Nesheiwat, as surgeon general in the upcoming administration, pending Senate confirmation. Waltz’s position does not require Senate confirmation.
This is developing and will be updated.