Florida Senator Rick Scott announced he will run for Senate Republican Leader to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, while Florida Democrats warned he would be a “disaster for Americans.”
He is the third candidate in the race, as South Dakota Senator John Thune and Texas Senator John Cornyn are also running for the top Republican position in the U.S. Senate.
“I am running to be the next Senate Republican leader,” Senator Rick Scott posted, adding he was excited to discuss it on FoxNews.
The Florida Republican is a top supporter of former President Donald Trump, and Scott said he spoke to Trump about the decision to run. Senator Rick Scott even supported former President Donald Trump at his New York trial recently. The Florida Senator previously tried to be the Senate Republican Leader in 2022, gaining 10 votes out of 49 against Sen. McConnell.
In response to Senator Rick Scott formally announcing his bid to be the next Senate Republican leader, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried was quick to attack and warn about his conservative policies.
“A Republican Senate Caucus led by Rick Scott would be a disaster for women and working families in Florida and a disaster for the country,” said FDP Chair Nikki Fried. “Scott’s self-serving agenda has failed Florida, and now he’s threatening to take his plans nationwide: he would enact a national abortion ban, slash Social Security and Medicare, and raise taxes on working families while cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy like himself.”
Democrats are already focused on taking on Senator Scott in his 2024 re-election bid. A Democratic Senate candidate running to oust Rick Scott echoed the political narrative from the state party.
“Self-serving Rick Scott is a danger to Florida families, and as Senate leader, he would be a disaster for Americans,” said Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. “We all know if Rick Scott gets elected to Senate leadership, he won’t hesitate to push his toxic and out-of-touch agenda to sunset Social Security and Medicare, raise taxes on middle-class families, and force a national abortion ban onto the American people. There’s no line Rick Scott won’t cross to further his own extreme agenda. The stakes of this race just got so much higher, but voters are fired up and ready to retire Rick Scott – for working Floridians and for Americans across the country.”
The Senate Republican Leader election will take place in a conference meeting after the November elections. Rick Scott has said he believes there is a better way to run the Senate. But Democrats disagree.
“Florida is ground-zero in the fight for control of the Senate and now the stakes are even higher,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried added. “Rick Scott’s self-serving agenda is wrong for Florida and wrong for America.”
