One day after sparring on the House floor with a Democrat who claimed that he and other Republicans don't understand what it's like to raise non-white children, Rep. Matt Gaetz opened up about a now-19-year-old man from Cuba who he has called his son for several years.
"He is a part of my family story," the Florida Republican, 38, told People magazine in an exclusive about the teen, Nestor Galban. "My work with Nestor, our family, no element of my public service could compare to the joy that our family has brought me."
Galban was 12 years old when he arrived from Cuba after his mother died of breast cancer. At the time, Gaetz, still a state legislator, was dating the boy's older sister, and he moved in with them.
Gaetz and Galban's sister broke up, but the boy, except for a period during his junior year, continued to live with Gaetz, who did not formally adopt him but said he considers him his son and said he can't "imagine loving him any more if he was my own flesh and blood."
Gaetz's revelation came after he and Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La, sparred during a House Judiciary markup of the Justice in Policing Act Wednesday, including with Gaetz asking Richmond why he assumed that his Republican colleagues had non-white children.
Gaetz until now has not shared anything publicly about parenting anyone, but Thursday morning posted a photograph of himself and Galban on Twitter, announcing he'd been raising him for years, drawing surprise from some and criticism by others.
But California Democratic Rep. Katie Hill, who says she has an "unlikely friendship" with Gaetz, backed him up on Twitter, noting that he "talks about Nestor more than anything has done so much for his son, and is truly a proud dad."
Gaetz's sister, Erin, also shared several family photos of the teenager through the years, including shots taken at his high school graduation earlier this year, him on Christmas Eve in 2013, and him with Gaetz and the congressman's grandmother and grandfather.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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