Rick Scott Positioned to Become Senate Majority Leader

 

With Republicans poised to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and possibly the U.S. Senate, could Republicans winning control of the Senate usher in Florida Senator Rick Scott as the new Senate Majority Leader?

Former Senate Majority Leader and current Minority Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, is considered persona non grata among most voting Americans, and many Conservative Senators in Washington for his open opposition of former President Donald Trump.

President Trump has been at odds with Sen. McConnell since the 2020 Presidential Election, and after McConnell all but blamed Trump for inciting the January 6 Capitol Riot, the gloves came off.

McConnell is on record of saying that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the Capitol riot.

“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president,” said McConnell.

“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” Trump said in a statement days after McConnell tore into him after the second impeachment trial.

Recently, Trump caught more heat for saying that McConnell had a “death wish.”

Trump’s spokesman Taylor Budowich stated that McConnell was “killing the Republican Party through weakness and cowardice.”

Budowich’s remarks echo the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of Republicans, who have expressed their disappointment in McConnell’s leadership.

Interestingly enough, Sen. Rick Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and is spearheading the Republican's efforts to take over the majority in the upper chamber, did not condemn Trump’s recent remark on McConnell.

"I can never talk about and respond to why anybody else says what they said," Sen. Scott said. "But here's the way I look at it is I think what the president is saying is there's been a lot of money spent over the last two years. We've got to make sure we don't keep caving to Democrats, it's causing unbelievable inflation and causing more and more debt."

Sen. Scott continued, saying, "As you know, the president likes to give people nicknames. You can ask him how he came up with the nickname. I'm sure he has a nickname for me."

But why would Sen. Scott come to McConnell’s defense?

While Scott works alongside McConnell, he is a very close ally to President Trump.

Scott has now positioned himself to replace McConnell if Republicans win the majority in the Senate.

Just because McConnell is the current Minority Leader in the Senate, it does not guarantee he walks in as Majority Leader.

Remember, while he was Majority Leader during the Trump administration, Republicans accused McConnell of not doing enough to support the America First agenda Trump championed as president.

But even though McConnell has recently claimed that he as the votes to become Majority Leader again, there is a quiet groundswell of support for Scott to lead Senate Republicans.

Again, Scott is a staunch ally of Trump, and the former president has previously called for McConnell to be challenged and ultimately replaced.

For those of you living under a rock back in 2019, then-Senate Minority Leader McConnell worked feverishly to defeat a young, conservative political newcomer named Marco Rubio in favor of then-Republican Governor Charlie Crist.

The night when then-newly-minted Senator Rubio celebrated his swearing in, McConnell crashed the party, leaving many party-goers, including Rubio himself, baffled by this cameo appearance.

Since then, several key Senate Republicans have told The Floridian that they would welcome new “ strong and conservative-minded leadership” to lead their caucus in the U.S. Senate.

Today, Scott has proven his leadership skills and is poised to fill the leadership void in the Senate.

If he is able to deliver a Republican majority Senate, Scott’s political capital among voting Republicans and Congressional Republicans in both chambers of Congress will be second to none.

Scott will be Senate Majority Leader, if he wants it.

2024

All bets could be off, if Trump decides not to run for president in 2024. If Trump does not run for president, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, and Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott,  are expected to run. Yes, Florida could see four presidential candidates next election cycle.

Besides Gov. DeSantis, Mayor Suarez and Sens. Rubio and Scott have all expressed interested in running for president in 2024.

Again, Scott would have an even greater bully pulpit to run for president.