WASHINGTON — Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his apply to serve as attorney general in the next Trump administrationbut the question remains: can he go back to his old job as a congressman?

Gaetz, for his part, has only expressed an intention not to take the oath of office for the 119th Congress — which begins Jan. 3, 2025, and for which Gaetz won re-election. He cannot preemptively resign from a session of Congress that has not yet convened or that he has not taken an oath to serve — meaning he is still eligible to serve in the 119th even if he cannot withdraw under any circumstances his resignation from the 118th to go back to the lame duck session, according to House rules.

The House representative read a resignation letter from Gaetz on Nov. 14 — after President-elect Donald Trump named him his attorney general pick — that read: “I am hereby resigning as a United States Representative for Florida’s 1st Congressional District, effective immediately. And I will not take the oath of office to the same office in the 119th Congress to complete the post of attorney general in the Trump administration.”

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If Gaetz changes his mind and notifies the House clerk that he intends to serve in the 119th Congress, he can be sworn in because a special election to fill the expected vacancy has not yet been scheduled.

House rules require members to make their presence known at the beginning of the first session of Congress in order to be seated. The rule reads: “House Rules 2. (a): At the commencement of the first session of each Congress, the Clerk shall call the Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioner to order and proceed to record their attendance by States in alphabetical order, either by summons or by use of the electronic voting system.”

If Gaetz or another member does not report to the Capitol to register their attendance, that district’s seat will become vacant.

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The house rules have very few additional details. ABC News has a request to the clerk’s office for further guidance.

And Florida’s own election laws seem vague on the issue.

Florida Elections Official Paul Lux, Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections, which is within Gaetz’s district, told ABC News that he expects the primary for the special election to fill Gaetz’s seat once he announces his plans to step down will likely be sometime in February, and the general election would likely be in April — though he stressed that nothing is final until the official dates come out of Florida Gov. Ron DeSanti’s office.

DeSantis, for his part, has yet to formally set a date for the special election.

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ABC News has contacted the Elections Division of the Florida Department of State to ask if the language in Gaetz’s letter triggers some kind of automatic vacancy or if there is something within Florida law that prevents him from returning to the 119th Congress. Some Republicans in the district have already declared their intention to run, although one candidate, Joel Rudman, said he would support Gaetz if he wanted to return to Congress.

Gaetz has not publicly said what he plans to do next. His wife Ginger Gaetz posted a photo of him earlier Thursday on the steps of the Capitol with the caption, “The end of an era.”