Rick Scott falls short in leadership bid despite support from Trump world
Published in News & Features
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott fell short on Wednesday in his bid to lead the Senate Republican Conference, marking his second failed attempt for the job in two years.
Scott, a former Florida governor who won reelection to his Senate seat last week, faced two opponents — Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota — in the race to succeed outgoing Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, whom Scott challenged unsuccessfully after the 2022 midterm elections.
Senate Republicans ultimately chose Thune for the top job, opting for an establishment figure with prior experience in Senate leadership.
Thune’s win amounted to a rejection of a pressure campaign from allies of President-elect Donald Trump, who lobbied senators in recent days to choose Scott. Trump himself did not endorse a candidate in the leadership race.
In a statement, Scott said that despite losing the leadership vote, he was “optimistic” that the Senate would take up Trump’s agenda and insisted that Republicans had a “clear mandate” to do so.
“While it isn’t the result we hoped for, I will do everything possible to make sure John Thune is successful in accomplishing President Trump’s agenda,” Scott said. “I would also like to thank John Cornyn for running a great race.”
Scott campaigned for the leadership job on a promise to break from McConnell’s leadership style and fix what he often described as a broken Senate. He leaned heavily on his credentials as a staunch Trump ally and vowed to prioritize the president-elect’s legislative agenda and political appointments if elected leader.
In public appearances this week, Scott frequently emphasized his close relationship with Trump and insisted that the incoming Republican Senate majority has an obligation to expedite the president-elect’s legislative agenda in the coming term.
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure his agenda gets accomplished,” Scott said in an interview with Fox Business on Sunday.
When Trump insisted over the weekend that whoever became the Senate leader agree to fast-track appointments to his administration and the courts, Scott was the first candidate to agree to the demand. Cornyn and Thune also expressed openness to the requirement.
In the days leading up to the secret-ballot leadership election, Scott amassed endorsements from several of his colleagues, including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, and a number of high-profile Trump allies, like billionaire Elon Musk and conservative media personality Tucker Carlson.
But those endorsements ultimately failed to persuade a majority of his colleagues to join his cause. In an initial vote on Wednesday, Scott came in third place behind Thune and Cornyn. Consequently, he was left off of a second ballot that eventually yielded Thune as the winner.
Thune, a more traditional Republican who aligned himself with McConnell, has drawn the ire of Trump in the past.
In 2020, after Thune refused to entertain Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election, the former and future president railed against Thune, calling him weak and insisting that his political career was done for. Thune has since sought to smooth out his relationship with Trump.
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